Homage to Christopher Wren, postponed

So after reading the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson I have a very clear impression of Christopher Wren, who became the most prolific architect of London after the Great Fire in 1666. I noticed in my guide book an abundance of Wren churches in the vicinity of St. Paul and the Monument, so I thought it would be fitting for me to visit as many possible to see what I could see and put it all in one post. Silly, silly me. I believe I have seen the outsides of most of them by now, but most of my pictures are boring and several of them were closed when I arrived, so I didn't even get to look inside to satisfy my curiosity! Beyond that, I have now tried twice to see St. Paul's and have arrived too late for the last entrance both times!

Oh well, I did manage to climb the Monument yesterday and take multiple unsatisfactory pictures from, and of, its towery heights. The picture above is a down the massive, vertigo-inducing, narrow spiral stair I climbed to the top. 311 steps. 311 little short slippery stone steps.
Here is the base of the Monument with its typically 17th century sculpted scene full of allusion.
The Monument is 60.6 m high, which is how far it is from the origin of the fire. There was in fact a spectacular view of the city from the top, albeit somewhat obstructed by suicide prevention mesh. Not only did I spot my favorite bit of odd London architecture, the Gherkin, but there was also a lovely Wren church a stones throw away.
St Magnus-the-Martyr was closed when I got to it after I climbed down, and I didn't have enough time today to get to it. I have a growing list of churches that I now wish to return to, between the hours of 11 and 2. Hopefully by the time I get around to it I will have the gall to take pictures of the interior boldly, and with good results... Indoor pictures of large spaces are quite difficult. Sigh.

I also went to see the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange yesterday.
There were prodigious beautiful daffodils out front of the Exchange and magnificent architecture.
And fancy bankers eating fancy lunch, surrounded by very famous luxury goods shops. And that was it. I was kinda disappointed I couldn't even go up to any of the higher levels because they were part of an expensive bar and restaurant that was closed until 5, which I wasn't about to stick around for.And finally, sitting forlornly in a rear entryway corner:Mr. Lincoln.

Finally, after I got bored with the financial center I went back to church hunting and ended up in St Mary-Le-Bow, another Wren church that was bombed out in WWII but was nicely restored. It's known as Mary of the Arches because the crypt beneath, which were so old that there were bits of tessellated tiles dating back from the time of Roman habitation, as well as many layers from the succession of churches put up on the spot.
And... there was going to be a lovely picture of the stained glass Mary, but the gods of the internet hate me.
That's it for now.