St. David's Day

Sunday, March 1, 2020:

It is St. David's Day, otherwise known as Daffodil Day.  St. David is the patron saint of Wales and the daffodil is a symbol of Wales. These days there are daffodils blooming all over London's parks.  Hopefully, the bright yellow flowers herald a change in weather.

Astonishingly, it did not rain today and we went for a walk that took us from Mayfair through Soho into Bloomsbury.  Among other sites, we came upon the memorial in Grosvenor Square for the 67 British citizens who were killed on 9/11.  Carved into the wooden frieze above the pillars of the memorial are the words: Grief is the price of love.

9/11 Memoirial

FDR statue on Grosvenor Square

On Grosvenor Square

John Adams' house on Grosvenor Square
when he was Ambassador to the UK in the 1780's

Our modus operandi in walking through this city is: if we spot a blue plaque, a quaint café, a historic church or a beguiling passageway, we walk in that direction.

One curious thing I have noticed are the many shop entryways decorated with a profusion - indeed a superabundance -  of flowers.  Speaking of superabundance, Soho has so many alluring eateries, we made a list of those we want to try.

My kind of restaurant

Pausing on our stroll, we stopped into the Nordic Bakery on Golden Square where Eddie enjoyed a cinnamon roll and I a blueberry pastry.  Charles Dickens chose Golden Square as the setting for Ralph Nickleby's gloomy house in his 1839 novel Nicholas Nickleby.  Dickens described the square as a "little wilderness of shrubs" with "a mournful statue."   It certainly does not fit that description today.

Hot chocolate and treats

Inside Nordic Bakery café looking out at Golden Square

King's Weigh House Chapel (with pointed tower) in Mayfair

Chinatown

Charles II statue in Soho Square

In Bloomsbury, our walk coming to an end, I looked up and noticed the BT Tower in the near distance, the tallest building in the UK until 1980, which today displayed the Welsh flag with the words, "Happy St. David's Day."