Leadenhall Market flutters into my instagram feed fairly frequently and so has been on my to do list for what feels like forever.  Hubby and I’s plans to go and see the roof gardens of Kensington fell through at the last moment and we were just pondering what to do in the persistent drizzly rain when we decided that today we could just wander around Liverpool Street and see what we could see. Firstly a shot of the Gherkin as we walked past a courtyard. Quickly followed by a shot of a facade being preserved for a new building. You can see why though, just so beautiful. And then we found ourselves in Leadenhall Market at which point I wished I’d bought the big camera, but you can’t always carry that around all day. Isn’t it pretty?  Apparently Leadenhall Market dates from the 14th century and was originally a meat, game and poultry market and stands on what was the centre of Roman London. This beautiful ornate roof structure was designed in 1881 by Sir Horace Jones who was also the architect of Billinsgate and Smithfield Market.  Then in about 1990 the market was transformed into this architectural beauty that we see today. (thank you wiki) It’s certainly very popular with the city types, the cheese lunches with very nice wines did look good. It was lovely exploring, There was a lovely pen shop to explore, and various avenues to explore. It is quite small really, but such a treat. And when we came out we explored a little further but it was till pouring with rain and we couldn’t find anywhere dry for our picnic lunch, when I had a bit of a brain wave, the sky garden must be very close and sure enough, just down the road we found this. Our very own Walkie Talkie, we walked around the building to see if we could enter and they were full up so couldn’t admit us, so we hopped on the no.15 bus, a very old route master which took us all the way to Trafalgar Square and ate our lunch on the way, it was great fun sitting on a tiny red double decker bus as it trundled along in and out of the traffic, there was even a proper conductor who came around and checked your tickets! (oyster card)  We then had a little wander around Trafalgar Square and hopped on the no.9 to take us to the Royal Academy of Arts to see David Hockney’s latest work on portraits, which of course was wonderful. And we came across Spyre by Ron Arad RA a kinetic sculpture which each segment moving at a different speed which ensures that it never repeats the same posture once.  It also has a camera on the tip so you can watch what it is filming on the big screen in front.  Quite amusing and quite beautiful but also just a little bit scary.  And I have no idea why Sir Joshua Reynolds is wearing a sash of flowers, it is most becoming though.