Destruction 300 years apart

In 1666, during three days, and in 1940, during eight months, London was devastated. The 17th-century Great Fire destroyed nearly everything within the original city walls (13,500 homes and 88 churches) and the German bombing campaign killed around forty thousand people and destroyed or damaged over 1.4 million buildings. Any discussion of the city’s architecture will mention both events.

Here’s a map comparing the destruction in the same area (source). And here’s an interactive map showing the locations of every bomb that German planes dropped during the Blitz (It will open to show the area around the Houses of Parliament; you can zoom in and out and shift it around.)

There’s a monument to the Fire—called The Monument, generally—that stands 202 feet tall and 202 feet from the where the fire started in a bakery. I climbed it.

I got a certificate for my achievement. This is the front of it.

At the bottom, looking up 231 steps.

At the top, looking down.

And looking out, at “the Shard,” the tall office building on the left.

And looking over the Thames, toward Tower Bridge on the left.

And looking up at the golden statue of fire that tops it.

Starting back down the 231 steps.

St-Dunstan-in-the-East was ruined in both disasters but rebuilt after only the first.  It’s not too far from the Monument. Open to the sky, now, it encloses a lovely garden.

Palm trees in England? Not the only time I saw them here, and it just doesn’t seem right.

Could that still be smoke damage from the bomb?