St. Olave Silver Street, London

Before World War II crashed the party, a few corners of London still clung to their Shakespearean roots. One such spot was the crossroads of Silver and Muggle-or Monkwell-Streets in Cripplegate. Sadly, the Blitz didn’t get the memo about historical preservation, and most of it was flattened.

Back in 1604, though, Shakespeare was very much alive and kicking there, renting a room in the house of Christopher Mountjoy-a French Huguenot who made fancy headpieces known as "tires" (yes, even back then, fashion was serious business). It is under that roof that Shakespeare hammered out heavyweights like Othello and King Lear.

Of course, London being London, disaster wasn’t far behind. The Great Fire of 1666 wiped the house clean off the map, and after WWII, the area got a complete makeover. Silver Street, once a short, lively lane, also boasted St. Olave’s Church, right across from Shakespeare’s digs. The church didn’t survive the Great Fire either-because apparently, history in London comes with a built-in self-destruct button.

Nowadays, if you wander along London Wall, you’ll find a modest little square where a block of stone still bears a medieval skull and crossbones. It marks the old graveyard of St. Olave’s. If you squint a bit, you might just picture Shakespeare, quill in hand, gazing out the window at that very symbol of mortality-a fitting backdrop for the man who gave us "to be or not to be."