Day Four: Overcoming the Halfway Point
By: Luke Haskins, BS'18 and Nolan Enlow, BS'18
Greetings from London! Our day started out with our class heading back toward the Financial District. We took a fascinating tour of the Lloyd’s of London, which is the oldest and largest insurance market in the world.
We passed through security, which we later learned on the tour was not because of the fear of security risks, but actually stems from the history of Lloyd’s original coffee shop location where Edward Lloyd wanted to deter people from coming in his shop and loitering.
First of all, the building was incredible.
It is built inside out so all of the utilities and services are on the outside, including the elevators (that made for an interesting ride).
As previously mentioned, the history of Lloyd’s began in 1686 in Edward’s Lloyd’s coffee shop, where maritime merchants and insurers would go, get a cup of coffee, and negotiate rates and terms for insurance. Edward Lloyd was smart and innovate enough to turn this into a business model and charge the two parties rent for conducting business in his shop, and thus Lloyd’s was born.
The business model operates similarly today, except with more parties involved providing more kinds of insurance with more complicated terms. The floor of Lloyd’s was one of the other most interesting parts of the building, which mirrors a very similar resemblance to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. There are booths everywhere of brokers and underwriters, along with “traders” running around.
From Lloyd’s, the class split off into groups where some went to the Bank of England, some went back to the Tower of London, and some went back to Saint Paul’s Cathedral. This part of the day was a great opportunity for students to fully experience previous parts of the trip that we were either rushed on or too tired to appreciate the first time. This part of the day was also useful for relaxing a little bit, recharging our batteries, and just enjoying a little bit of free time.
After our adventures around London, we gathered together for a night of fine dining at Simpson’s in the Strand.
This historic restaurant, once frequented by Charles Dickens, George Bernard Shaw, and Winston Churchill, fed us a three course meal, with an entrée consisting of different types of vegetable and meat pies. What a fit for Pi Day!
Both before and after our meal, we were guided on a brief tour of different areas of Simpson’s. George Bernard Shaw, after finding refuge in the basement of the restaurant during the Blitz, signed his name on the kitchen wall, and his note has been immortalized in the basement of the building. Winston Churchill was a regular at Simpson’s, and he had a particular chair that he enjoyed while dining. One of the Kelley students had the honor of getting to sit in his seat as we ate, and many other students took the opportunity to take pictures in the seat after the meal was over.
With full stomachs, we walked back to the hotel, thankful for a sunny day, and in denial that this week is passing us so quickly! We look forward to tomorrow’s adventures.