Kew to Hammersmith

The last and final walk... and I'm not just posting this now because I saved the walk until the very bitter end. Nooooooo, I am no procrastinator. Well maybe I didn't used to be. Anyyyyyways. This walk was actually alright! Anytime I get to be enjoying a view of the Thames, it is a good time, even though this wasn't my favorite part of it. It had a strange smell to it that I didn't particularly enjoy. The highlight of the walk was probably the beach houses at the end. It felt a little bit like a beach in California, but I liked it for different reasons. The beach homes were simply perfect. They were lovely and quaint, and everything you could ever hope for in a beach home. The fronts were even overtaken with fresh, full, purple lilacs, or "those purple things" as Brenden so wisely referred to them. This area had a different feel to it. At the very end by the Hammersmith stop I felt like I was back in the city, but during it didn't feel like I was. It was far enough away to have a smaller feeling to it, which was slightly appealing. I cannot say I'm mad that these walks are over and done with. It has been lovely, and it is even more so now!

Walks Final

The City East  A favorite of mine because of the atmosphere of the general area. We went at lunch time when at the business men and women were venturing out in their business attire to find lunch, and I loved seeing everyone like that. The area was clean, the architecture was diverse but incredible, and the Tower of London at the end of the walk was a perfect way to end it.

Fleet Street and St. Pauls. As I look back through the walks I have completed, I am realizing that we did the majority of them at night, and the night time ones were usually my favorite. This one is another example of that. Seeing St. Pauls all lit up was brilliant. I liked this one for the inspiring pubs. I use the word inspiring because they housed major literary figures in their most productive days, and I love that atmosphere. I love walking in to a pub and knowing that it was there that masterpieces were created.

Central Parks A day time walk that was absolutely gorgeous. This walk introduced me to a whole stream of parks I had no idea about. The St. James park for example, I didn't even know it existed, so to get to spend time in it was gorgeous. We did this walk on one of the first nice days, so it got me excited for Spring.

Lambeth and the South Bank was my favorite walk. We did this walk at night, in our favorite area, and I suppose that is why it is my favorite. Seeing everything lit up was fantastic. Big Ben is even more splendid at night than it is during the day, and I didn't even think that was possible.

Even though these walks seemed like a chore at times, I really am glad I did them. It was so neat to get out and explore different areas of the city that I would not normally go. Doing this helped me to find neat little places that I later went back to and enjoyed again. This definitely added to my London experience and helped me to get to know the city better.

Regent's Park

The Regent's Park Walk. What do I have to say about the Regent's Park walk? Regent's Park, and it's sister park, Primrose Hill are almost as beautiful as my sister, and that is saying A LOT. We did this walk when I was I'm quite sure, the most tired I have ever been. I think I had achieved sleeping a total of about 10 hours in three nights combined, and it was showing on this day (feel free to mock how gross I look, I won't even be mad). It took everything in my power, and Brenden's for that matter, but we got there! The moment I saw the park I forgot about how tired I was. This place was beautiful. At the beginning of the walk was  Regent's Park Road with cute little cafes and shops, and you could tell what kind of an area this was just from the cars parked out from. I don't think I saw one that wasn't nice, or worth less than $35, 000.
Into Primrose Hill Park we went first, and I wanted to cry when I saw the hill I had to climb up, but I suppose that panoramic view was worth it. We kept ourselves entertained with talk of the London Zoo and it's animals, as we made our way into the Broad Walk of Regent's Park. So lovely, so gorgeous. Now that Spring is here, everything is that much better, and the green colors in this park are the perfect examples of that. From Hanover Terrace right down to Cambridge Terrace, all of them named from titles held by various members of the royal family during the reign of George IV. I was sufficiently awe struck. Each one was grand in it's own early nineteenth century glory, and John Nash, the architect behind them, well he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. We managed to reach the end of the walk without me collapsing or falling asleep, we were enlightened, and our eyes were pleased with the sights they had seen, so I will mark it down as a success.

Westminster and St. James

This walk came at the most perfect time. It is not often I find myself worrying, and I certainly don't admit to it, but this is one time I will confess, I was full on worried. Not worried I wasn't going to finish the walk or worried I'd starve along the way or anything, just worried that I am leaving in two weeks. Have I seen enough of London? Have I experienced enough of the incredible cultural aspects? Did I write enough down? Am I going to remember it? This was the raging state of my mind. It hit me that it might be awhile before I am back here, and I have a lot of things I need to remember, ya know? So I strapped on my little red sneakers, grabbed my walking partner, and we embarked, down to my favorite area of London, down along the bank. The moment we stepped out of the underground I knew I was going to be ok. Big Ben was staring me right in the face. Big Ben in all it's London, English, European glory. I breathed in a huge sigh of relief, I live in London!

 

 This walk got even better as we made our way into Horse Guards Parade, where some horse exchange thinga-ma-jig was going down. I'm sorry I cannot tell you what it was, just some changing of horses, but all I know is at this point my London blues were long gone. This did it for me. Followed by glimpses of St. James Park (perhaps my favorite), Buckingham Palace (no, the Queen was not in, I did check) and Queen Anne's Gate. The architecture here? Exceptional. It is amazing how much they knew what they were doing in the 1800s. If they created all of that glory with none of the modern technology we have today, what are we doing in North America with such hideous, bland buildings? 

Made our way back to Westminster Station, grinned a bit over a successful English-filled morning, and then I headed home because judging by my forehead wrinkles in the photos I spared you from seeing, I had a lot more work waiting for me. Blasted Sonnets :)