Walk #7: Central Parks

The Central Parks walk has been the best walk to date! Perhaps that is because we didn't walk it though, we biked it! So, for weeks, Nick and I had been planning to rent Barclay's bikes and do this walk. Finally, last Friday morning we gathered up some people and headed out to cruise central London and the parks. The group was Nick, me, Kelsey, Scott, Andrea, Hillary, Alexa, Alison, and Taylor. After a little hassle with the Barclay's machines, we finally all set off on our ride. It was the perfect morning to ride, and of course the parks were gorgeous! The walk took us through St. James's, Green, and Hyde Parks, and Kensington Gardens, too. I am familiar with Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, but it was nice to see the other parks I haven't been to before. I really admire London, and England in general, for it's inclusion of city parks and commons for public use. One thing that I've noticed during all these walks, but especially on this one, is that the big things in London are a lot closer together than you think. No wonder so many people here walk or ride their bikes everywhere; it really is quite manageable. We normally ride the tube for a good 20-30 minutes to get from the Centre, right by Kensington Gardens to Buckingham Palace, but we easily rode our bikes that same distance in about an equal amount of time! On the bikes you can still see the city up close, but it's more fun than walking. Riding down the mall towards Buckingham Palace was so perfect. Everything -- the park, the palace, the weather -- was so beautiful and I was thinking in my head, it doesn't get much better than this! This bike ride has actually been one of my favorite experiences during the whole time here in London. 

Buckingham Palace by ride-by!

The group in front of Kensington Palace

Walk #6: Soho to Trafalgar Sq.

Soho to Trafalgar was such a fun walk! This district is interesting because there is such a variety of people, attractions, history, etc. Kristen, Andrea, Nick, and I did this walk together one afternoon. We started off the walk at Goodge St. station -- what a funny name! We saw Pollock's Toy Museum  and Soho soon after and then walked for a long time through Soho which is pretty much a shopping/eating district, but it also had some interesting/questionable locales too. Chinatown was definitely a highlight of the walk for me. I've never been to one before in any big city and this one was pretty crazy! Next we wound our way through to the theatre district and saw a bunch of theatres with major and minor productions, including the Queen's Theatre, where we saw Les Mis later that night!  One funny thing that happened on the walk was when we passed by a bunch of street artists right around Leicester Square who did portraits/caricatures. We kind of wanted to get one, but it was a little pricey and the guy was ticked off when Nick told him we'd check the other prices. He told us not to come back! We decided not to get one done after all, haha. Of course, the walk ended in Trafalgar Square, which is one of my favorite parts of London. I love the hustle and bustle of this part of the city; there is always something interesting going on!

Walk #5: Inns of Court

I went on the Inns of Court walk with Kelsey, Hillary, Alexa, and Alison. The walk was really fun and it was really cool to do one at night, but it was also disappointing because a lot of the gates and paths were closed, so we couldn't see any of the sites along the route, especially the major inns it's famous for. My favorite part of the walk was seeing the Royal Courts of Justice. For one, the building had really cool architecture -- it kind of looks like a cross between a cathedral and the Disneyland castle. I also liked seeing this because my sister is a lawyer, so it was like a little pilgrimage for her. We had fun taking this walk together and it was definitely a different part of town than I've really seen yet; nicer and well-kept with no tourists.

 The Royal Courts of Justice

A notable point along the route

The lighting on the Royal Courts of Justice was so cool when we ended our walk at night!

Walk #4: St. Paul's and Fleet Street

The St. Paul's and Fleet Street walk was another one of my favorites so far. We had a great group --Tara, Alison R., Nick, Hannah, Scott, and me. Scott was our fearless leader and he did a fabulous job so we never got lost! He was also quite patient because it took a while to actually finish the walk since we made a few extra pit stops along the way, which were really fun and well worth the time. I felt like we were really experiencing the walk and the city rather than just doing the walk to get it done. One of those stops was a fun little old-fashioned  sweet shop with jars of candy lining the walls. It was fun to get a few candies to sample. I also liked a smaller church we stopped at called St. Bride's. It was one of the many on the map route, but we unexpectedly decided to go in and ended up getting a pretty cool impromptu 15-20 minute history about the church by one of the pastors, then we explored the crypt as well. It was way smaller and creepier than the St. Paul's crypt, which we saw later that day. Another notable pit stop was Dr. Samuel Johnson's house, which we perused for a bit. I really like this general area of London, especially how the modern buildings and structures are juxtaposed right there with the old, historical ones. Finally, we ended the walk right back by St. Paul's Cathedral, which was very picturesque on a beautiful afternoon!

I liked Temple Bar, right by St. Paul's

 I thought this sculpture was so cool!

 A look back at St. Paul's during the walk

  The group in front of St. Sepulchre's Church

The sweet shop!

Just the girls in front of St. Bride's!

Gorgeous St. Paul's

Walk #3: The City (East)

 The City walk was interesting. I did the walk with a pretty big group - Molly, Amy S., Taylor, Lindsey, Nick, Andrea, Kristen, and Laura - so that was fun, but challenging to keep everyone together! Lindsey was the leader, and she did a great job, it was just hard because this walk was really confusing since we had to start int he middle because Tower Hill tube station is closed for renovations. So we got lost. A lot. There were a lot of really old, really cool churches on this walk, including St. Michael's (see below), St. Olave's, St. Mary-at-Hill, and St. Mary-le-Bow Church. We also got to walk near the Tower of London at dusk, which was a great view. The ancient Roman-built wall across the street right by Tower Hill station was really neat too. I can't believe that such big sections of those walls remain! There was also a cool statue of Trajan right by it. I think my favorite sight on the walk were 30 St. Mary Axe, aka the Gherkin. I love the look of that building and its modern architecture as it pokes up between the rest of the skyscrapers. In my opinion, this walk was not the most interesting or enjoyable I've been on, but there was certainly a lot of history since this part of London dates back to Roman times!

The group in front of St. Michael's Church. I loved the blue door!

We pretended to be the Gherkin!                    

Tower of London!

 This wall is almost 2000 years old!

200 foot monument designed by Sir Christopher Wren to commemorate the 

Great Fire of 1666 that destroyed much of London

Walk #2: Bankside and Southwark

 Funny story -- this walk was actually happened on accident! Scott, Nick, Laura, Molly, and I were going to the Tate Modern on the evening of Saturday the 30th, and all the walking we did around there afterward basically replicated the route in the guidebook, except for one section where we had crossed the London Bridge over the the north side of the Thames (today before the St. Paul's tour we went back and finished up that part we'd missed, though). Our adventure began when we got off the tube at St. Paul's station and right as we turned down an alley, there it was! It was my first time seeing it in person and it was really a breathtaking sight. Then we walked to Millennium Bridge to cross over to the Tate Modern to see the Sunflower Seeds exhibit.

After the museum is when we really decided to walk around and explore the area. We went back across the Millennium Bridge and saw the awesome night views up and down the Thames, including the London and Tower Bridges. We all thought it would be really fun to make our way to the Tower Bridge, so off we went! We walked for about an hour and a half (not counting all the extra time at the end trying to find an open tube station late at night!). On our way we followed along the south side of the river and saw the Globe Theatre (I have now seen a play there!), the Clink Prison Museum, and some really cool pubs, restaurants, and shops. We crossed over the London bridge then walked through a business area until we reached the Tower of London and the London Bridge. Seeing these lit up at night was amazing; I've now seen them in the day too, and they're equally great! When Scott, Nick, and I went back to finish during the daytime, we were on the other side of the river and walked through the business park type area. till we reached the end of the walk down by Tower Bridge again. It was a nice area right on the water and there were really great views of a lot of major landmarks, which was fun to see. This was a great walk and I really enjoyed seeing the area of Southwark and Bankside!

Walk #1: Regent's Park

The Regent's Park walk was lovely! It was a great way to start out the set. I walked with Shelisa, Tara, Sam, Scott, and Nick. Nick and I co-lead on this one. We started the walk from the top of Primrose Hill, where we took in amazing views of London's skyline. We passed St. Mark's Church on our way into the park, which was a cool looking church. I liked its architecture a lot. Once we entered the park, it was so enjoyable to stroll around on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. There were tons of families out, people walking dogs, guys playing soccer, people paddleboating on the lake or enjoying the weather sunbathing in chairs, picnicking, and just strolling around like us. I think English people definitely take advantage of their outdoor spaces and beautiful parks more than us Americans. The last part of the walk through the gardens was really nice. We went into a big rose garden, but they were only just about to bloom, so I want to go back and see them when they are in full splendor! The last part of the walk took us through a really nice area called Chester Terrace, that had great architecture. After two hours, we ended up at Regent's Park Station and took the tube to Camden Markets for lunch!

The London skyline from the top of Primrose Hill

Our group in front of St. Mark's (except Sam who took the picture!)

The beautiful, serene lake

 A cute bridge and lush greenery in the park

Everyone takes their dogs out here! 

Plus the people playing football in the common in the distance

Amazing architecture on Chester Terrace

Regent's Park was fabulous!