The Shard (London) & More – Joel’s Journeys & Jaunts

After visiting Buckingham Palace this morning, and having a nearby lunch thereafter, I took a Tube ride and a bit of a walk to what’s reputed to be the highest viewing platform in London. It’s at the top of The Shard, a 72-storey building near London Bridge over the River Thames. I had to walk over London Bridge to get to it, which afforded me good views of The Shard and the River Thames.

It was raining a bit on the way to The Shard, and off and on for the rest of the afternoon. So, after leaving the Shard, I stuck to sights within a tight radius of it. As you read this, it will sound like I did a lot this afternoon, but except for the first stop after The Shard, to a market, they were quick-hit visits.

Rather than dragging out this introduction, let’s get started.

The Shard

The Shard is very distinctive. It’s clear-glass-enclosed, with walls that slope inward to a point at the top. The effect is to make The Shard look like, well, a giant glass shard.

It’s a mixed-use building, with offices, a hotel, apartments, and, at the top, viewing levels.

From both weather and geography standpoints, this was not the best day for me to go to The Shard. As I said, it was a Tube ride, and walks to and from Tube stations, away from Buckingham Palace. I think there are other interesting attractions within walking distance of Buckingham Palace that I could have visited today.

And the whole point of going to The Shard is for the view. The rain stopped by the time I got there, but it was still heavily overcast, and more rain was promised for the afternoon.

However, the viewing levels of The Shard don’t open until 1:00 p.m. on Sundays (today is Sunday). And it’s closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I leave on Wednesday, not early, but not late enough for me to get to The Shard then, despite it opening somewhat earlier on Wednesday than today. So, it was either this afternoon or never.

I suppose I could have found some attractions I wanted to see that were within walking distance of The Shard and done them in the morning before The Shard viewing levels opened, and then visit Buckingham Palace on Monday or Tuesday. But I didn’t because I’m an idiot. I have no other excuse.

To get to the viewing levels of The Shard, you first take an elevator to the 33rd floor. You then switch to another elevator to, I think was the 66th floor. On that floor, you can see, a bit away, the view through the window, but that’s not one of the viewing levels.

You then take a set of stairs up to the 68th level, where there’s a bar serving alcoholic beverages, including overpriced glasses of champagne, and snacks. That floor has unobstructed viewing windows. I didn’t buy anything or stop long on that level.

You then take more stairs up to the 69th floor, which is a completely enclosed viewing level without anything for sale or any other obstructions. I spent a while there.

Then, you take some more stairs up to the 72nd floor. On that level, there are glass windows that are much taller than any human, and they form a roof overhead, but there are gaps in the sides of The Shard at that level that start much higher than anyone’s head. The gaps let the wind blow through this floor. I spent some time there too.

(There is an elevator in those upper levels that people can use to bypass the stairs, but the staff at The Shard restrict the use of that elevator to use solely by people whose mobility issues make it too difficult for them to walk up.)

You might have noticed some gaps in the floor numbers I listed above. There is nothing on those missing floors, I think, including physical floors. But you have to walk up the stairs past the height of what would normally be floors.

On a clear day, the views from the top of the Shard would likely be spectacular. When I was up top, the rain must have started again because there were some drops on the window. And the low, heavy clouds restricted the visibility off to the horizon somewhat. Consequently, the views today were great, but less than magnificent.

Borough Market

My walking tour app rates Borough Market, which is just a few blocks from The Shard, as a must-see. It’s under what’s either elevated roadways or elevated railway tracks, or possibly one of each. Those overpasses provide considerable rain protection for the market. And there is a glass roof over much of the market that isn’t under those overhead structures.

At the point in Borough Market that Apple Maps directed me to, it was just a clump of a few vendor stalls, all of them occupied by vendors. I looked around, and that seemed to be all there was to it. I thought to myself, “Really? Sure, it’s got a lot of character, but if this is all there is, then how is this a must-see?”

I was about to give up and leave, but then I said to myself, “Wait. What’s around that corner?”

I looked around the corner and saw that there was a whole warren of stalls continuing for a piece and across a street that runs through Borough Market. I have no idea exactly how many vendors there are in the market, but it ranges somewhere between lots and a plethora.

Vendors sell prepared foods, snacks, fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, spices, nuts, olives, oils, breads (including Moishe’s, which sells challahs and bagels), and probably a bunch of other foodstuffs I’ve forgotten.

The market had a very gritty feel to it, but it oozed character—maybe because of its gritty feel. I don’t know if it was because it was raining and the market was covered, but Borough Market was a crowd favourite and packed today.

Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret

The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret was not the next sight I went to after the Borough Market. That was the Southwark Cathedral, but for a reason I’ll mention in the next section, I just ducked in, left, and then went back after visiting the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret.

St. Thomas’ Hospital started its life in the 12th century as an infirmary in St. Marie Overie, which is now Southwark Cathedral. After a fire, the hospital moved, and the current Old Operating Theatre Museum is in that “new” building, although St. Thomas Hospital, which is still in existence today, has long since moved elsewhere.

The museum is on the first floor (i.e., the one above the ground floor) of the building. The lower level houses a bar. Getting to the museum requires climbing up a narrow, wooden spiral staircase. There is no elevator. That in itself was something of an adventure.

Upstairs, there’s a section of the museum with collections of herbs and flowers that were thought to cure some ailments at one time. There are also some old surgical tools, other medical items, and bisected human organs from well over a hundred years ago that are preserved in fluids. Signage provides information about the practice of medicine a hundred and more years ago.

Beyond that area, there’s an old operating theatre, with an operating table and standing-room tiers where people, I assume other doctors, could watch the surgeries being performed. The operating theatre functioned as such from 1822 to 1862.

Southwark Cathedral

The reason I left Southwark Cathedral and then came back after visiting the Old Operating Theatre Museum is that there was a service happening when I was there the first time. I asked someone at the door how much longer the service would be. She suggested I come back in twenty minutes.

Who could have possibly predicted that a cathedral would conduct a religious service on a Sunday, a prime day for tourists? Some people just have no practical sense.

But I did come back and quite enjoyed the Southwark Cathedral.

My walking tour app tells me it’s the oldest Gothic cathedral in London. with some of it dating from the 12th century. There have, however, been additions since then. And the building out front that now forms an entrance, lobby, and meeting area does a decent job of blending in with the old structure, but it looks quite new.

Southwark didn’t start as a cathedral. It was a priory, then a palace church and didn’t graduate to a cathedral until 1905.

The cathedral has a tall, stone, vaulted ceiling. The wall behind the altar is practically filled with 20 stone sculptures of religious figures. And there are several small stained glass windows.

It’s not a huge cathedral, but it’s quite impressive.

Not the Golden Hinde

The Golden Hinde is close to the Borough Market, the Old Operating Theatre, and Southwark Cathedral. It’s a recreation of a ship sailed by Sir Francis Drake, a famous pirate and slave-trader, in the 16th century. For a small fee, the general public can go aboard and clamber around the ship. That is to say, they can do so when it’s not closed for a private function, as it was today.

Oh, well, that’s enough for this afternoon anyway.