Fischberg Flashback 7: Vertigo

 Original date of post: September 18, 2013

Given that on Wednesdays I have three classes over the course of the day, you’d think that those would be work-dominated days with few blog-worthy events.

You’re probably right, but this day was an exception!

At noon today, in between my drama and politics courses, we had a visit from a nearby police constable!  He was there to inform us about safety and security procedures, along with warning us about some of the scams that modern-day London thieves tend to pull (spoiler alert: there are a lot).  At the end, he offered out pamphlets, personal alarms, and jingly little bells to attach to our belongings:

I’ll give them a try, but I have a feeling that they might get annoying.  We’ll see!

Anyway, during history class, we went on a walking tour in the heart of the City of London (for those who don’t know, the City of London, also known as the Square Mile or the City, is the very center of the city, dating back to the Roman Empire and containing many financial buildings).  Along with plenty of some old churches, which dated back to the Middle Ages, there were plenty of examples of cutting-edge architecture:

Royal Exchange of London

Bank of England

We also passed by the Royal Exchange of London and the Bank of England.  However, our main destination was the Monument, a monument to the Great Fire of London, which decimated the city in 1666.  The Monument consists of one giant column that is actually a tower:

The tower can be climbed via a single spiral staircase within the tower.  It is tall.  Very tall:

That is a photo of the staircase taken from the top.  At the top of the tower, one can see a lovely view of the London skyline.

When I finally made it down the tower, I was presented with a certificate to mark my accomplishment (to be honest, 311 steps up and down was pretty exhausting, especially for someone of my physical caliber).

Now that I’ve seen a good deal of London from up high, I look forward to seeing even more at ground level soon!

Modern insight:

Ah, good old London scenery porn!  This is the kind of thing travel blogs were meant for.

Though I didn't immediately realize it, climbing the Monument awoke something in me.  For the remainder of the semester, I was mildly obsessed with finding higher and higher places to climb and photograph (especially places with ludicrously long staircases).  To this day, I can't pass up a good photo op from the top of a church, mountain, or government building.

The security bells weren't as long-lasting.  As brought up in a later post, I removed them in early October.  I still appreciate the courteous thought, though!

Looking back on this post, I missed an opportunity to use British spelling: I wrote "caliber" when I should have written "calibre!"  SHAME, 20-year-old me!

Random Fact 1: the blue pill-shaped skyscraper is officially called 30 St. Mary Axe, something I didn't learn for another year.  Every Londoner I talked to about it (which was admittedly only a few people at the University Center) called it "the Viagra Building," which it will always be to me. :P

Random Fact 2: I titled this post "Vertigo" back in the day because it's one of my father's favorite movies.  At the time I wrote this post, I had not seen it.  In the years since, I have seen it.  This has nothing to do with my travels abroad, but I'd recommend giving Vertigo a watch; it's got some lovely San Francisco scenery porn. :)