London

Today we decided we would visit the Silver Vaults recommended to us by a friend.  We took a tube train and during the journey the train stopped in the station and just sat there.  There was an announcement we couldn’t hear very well and I asked a man and he said there was a person on the line and until that was sorted out the train couldnt go anywhere.  So we decided to get off and we walked to Convent Garden and soon found ourselves in the 7 dials area which I really love so we wandered around there for a while and then we found  the fish and chip shop called Rock and Sole that we visited last year, so we decided to have some lunch there.  

From there we walked to the silver vaults in Chancery Lane. The vaults were built in 1876 as strong room facilities for London's rich and famous.  The vaults became popular with silver traders and eventually they expanded to take over the building and open it up to the public.    London Silver Vaults is home to the world's largest retail collection of fine antique silver.

You can find anything from a silver champagne swizzle stick to a full-sized silver armchair. We went in and were ushered into the lift which took us to the basement where the shops are actually vaults with big heavy vault doors.  No photos are allowed in the corridors for security reasons.  It is high security 24 hrs every day of the year.

The first shop we went in the man in there was very friendly and chatty and he said take photos if you like inside the shops.  Then he told us that the Queen of Dubai was in his shop recently and bought loads of silverware for gifts.  She comes in chooses what she wants and then 3 days later her staff collect it.  It has to be boxed with a photo on the box of the piece of silver inside.  He named some film stars who come in and he said they come in and some ask for the shop to be roped off and when that happens a crowd gathers to see who might be inside the store.  We wandered around and looked in all the stores.  I thought it was very interesting and best of all it is free to enter.  

After looking at the silver we realised we were not far from the Temple Church, made famous in the Dan Brown book, the Da Vinci Code.  The church is lovely.  Colin climbed the steps to the tower while I sat in the pews looking at the church.