St James and Belgravia - Statues and Monuments

On a cold but bright Friday, 12 of us found each other at St James Park underground station with only slight difficulty. The station is the original headquarters of London Underground; when built in the 1920’s it was the tallest building in London. Ed pointed out the friezes by Eric Gill, Henry Moore and Epstein. We then meandered through southern Westminster to end up in thick tourist crowds at Buckingham Palace, where they laid on the full Changing of the Guard for us. We then saw the gaslights along the side of the Mall, statues and buildings down the Mall past St James Park where we saw a very cold pelican. and across Horseguards parade to get a bus to Victoria. Some of us had lunch in Itsu, where we almost defeated by ordering our lunch via computer screens. We all got more or less what we wanted in the end! The afternoon was slightly delayed by the loss of a wallet but 5 of us aacontinued to the elegant squares and embassies of Belgravia. We finished looking at the unfamiliar memorials in the roundabout at Hyde Park Corner. Thanks to Ed Smith for a carefully researched and very interesting walk.