Bankside and Southwark

We just got home from completing this walk, and I am satisfied with the results. The walk took us along the Thames, and any time I get to be down there I am a happy walker. It truly has become my favorite area of London. I have spent a great amount of time down on this bank, but not this side of it, so this was a new experience for me. We started off by crossing Blackfriars Bridge, erected in 1869. We got across the river, descended the steps to our next point on the walk, and the riverside walk was closed. Fortunately I was the fearless tour guide this time and so we maneuvered our way through the detour and got back on track. I hadn't seen St. Pauls Cathedral very well in the daylight, and there it was staring me right in the face, such a neat building. The Tate Modern, Cardinals Wharf, and Provost Landing were the main points here. The Tate Modern being my favorite of the three, I can't wait to go back and actually go inside this modern gallery. We spent a bit of time exploring the Naughty Place, no folks, don't get any funky ideas, this is simply an area along the bank. Called 'The Naughty Place' until the 1600s, it is simply a neat little alley full of taverns and brothels. Alas, the Globe was in sight, and this had been what I was looking forward to most. It was neat to go through the bear-baiting arena and the original sight of the Globe. I felt like this walk was the most windy of all of them. We were going in and out of little alleys and different areas, it was confusing at times but we made it through and were able to see a lot of really neat things. I only wish I had more information on some of them as I was going. We didn't go on a day when Borough market was open, so I vowed to go back, have since done that, and would definitely recommend going. I tried every tester in that place and it almost satisfied the raging Costco craving I have had for the last four months (I acknowledge that it is kind of creepy how much I like that place). The Tower Bridge was the last point on this walk, and I'm glad they saved the best for the last. The Tower Bridge is a landmark, built in 1894 and still as precious and ornate as ever. This is London!

Fleet Street and St. Pauls (The City West)

Forgive me, the rest of my pictures have failed me. As you can see, we chose to do this walk at night, and I am glad. Seeing St. Paul's Cathedral standing their, lit up definitely inspired me to learn more about Sir Christopher Wren. He was obviously brilliant if he can create a masterpiece like this. 

Seeing pubs such as this, 'Ye Old Cheshire Cheese', is one of my favorite things. I am a total pub person, not in the sense that I frequent them to drink and watch a game, I frequent them to pour my thoughts into my notebooks. To read about ones such as this where great literary men were inspired fascinates me. I went inside the pub and gazed around, taking in the ancient, dark wood paneled walls, what was it about this place that provided inspiration? Was it the way the dim lighting gave the room a bit of mystery? For Johnson was it being there amongst people he was comfortable with? I think I could sit and write a bit here too, unfortunately there was no room for me on this night, but I think I will go back.  This was certainly the highlight, but I did enjoy the entire walk. This area of the city was particularly dead at night, but it was a peaceful sort of dead, not a creepy one, and I liked that.

Central Parks

Brenden was our fearless leader for this beautiful walk, and he did a grand job. We seemed to time our walk just perfectly somehow, and as we made our way out of St. James' Park we ran right into the changing of the guards. It was epic! It wasn't absolutely freezing, there was a nice amount of people out, and it made it easy to love this walk. It was fun to go through Hyde Park a different way, because I was able to see vast areas of it I did not know existed, and I was able to scope out spots for the many picnics I will be taking the moment it is warm.

Lambeth and the South Bank

These pictures pretty much sum it up, doing this walk at night was one of the best decisions I made that week. I could have stayed there snapping photos for hours, the skyline lit up like this is nothing short of gorgeous. The walk was full of beautiful things, St. Mary's churchyard being another one of them. I appreciate so much the work that goes into creating and maintaining grounds like these. It takes a special kind of person to be a gardener. I pictured my Mom coming in the back door, dirt stained on her jeans, mud caked under her fingernails, her face and neck looking more leather like than the day before, and in her hand a prize winning bucket of vegetables; she would love this place.

It is refreshing to do these walks, and to actually know some of the specific people and events that are being spoken of. It ties in so well with our history class, and I love being able to see a structure that has such significant historical meaning. I often times wonder just how many people have paused and gazed at what I am looking at. This ties us all together and makes the world seem a little smaller and closer. I have not yet taken my obligatory London Eye walk, but now I know when I want to do it. I want to do it just before sunset, when I can still see the city, but when a little bit of dark mystery is setting in. All in all, an extremely enjoyable, successful walk.

Inns of Court

Forgive me for leaving you hanging with a blank post. How lame. I'd like to pretend like I did this walk because I was really craving a stroll in the rain, but that would be a lie. Soooo I'll confess just once, that I looked through the book, found the shortest one, grabbed my partner in crime-Haley, and we ran out the door. It is late and I'm confessing things, so I'll just keep right on confessing... I had absolutely not one clue what the Inns of Court were. Sooo shoot me. Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Middle Temple, and Inner Temple are where lawyers train and then practice. Ok so after reading that I was a bit interested, shout out to the lawyer brothers, I do care about them. This is smack dab in the middle of legal London. We stopped along the way and took photos of things we needed to look up when we got home, because even though we were freezing our hineys off, we were a bit on the intrigued side. That is why Haley is not only a fearless walk leader, but a smart one at that. I love that we can have intelligent conversations, and I value her opinion a lot. Unicorns have become something that I notice straight away since being here. Maybe because of somebody's odd obsession with them, or maybe because they are everywhere, but anyways, the ones in Charles Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop were certainly something of interest to us. I heart Charles Dickens. Always have, always will, and the longer I am in London the more I learn about him, and I love him even more.

In the end I was grateful for both this walk, the new knowledge I gained, Haley, and Starbucks waiting for us at the end of the tunnel. Mostly I was grateful for Starbucks, but that isn't important is it?