St. Paul's and Fleet Street

Michelle and I in front of the statue of Dr. Johnson's cat. He must have loved that cat a lot.

Michelle and I reenacted Sweeney Todd after finding a barber shop on Fleet Street.

I enjoyed parts of this walk, but mostly I found that we were going to random places that weren't that interesting. I loved seeing St. Paul's Cathedral. Its so enormous and this walk was the first time I'd seen it. I wish we could go see that as a group and go inside. Christopher Wren was an amazing architect. All along the walk we saw all these churches and all of them were designed by him. It's amazing to see how much one man can contribute to the world.

I also enjoyed walking along Fleet street, mainly because of Sweeney Todd. It was awesome seeing that, although I can't imagine how whoever wrote that musical got the idea of having him live on Fleet Street. Especially when I look at how it's laid out now--lots of businesses, no houses/places to live.

Today, the day after I went on this walk, Jaynann and I went to the London museum and went to the more modern section. This section was full of lots of information and artifacts from the Blitz. We sat down and watched this movie clip. It was a bunch of pictures with voice over interviews of people that were there when it happened. It was really neat to hear the experiences and see the pictures. There was a part where they talked about St. Paul's and how everything around it was destroyed, but somehow that cathedral stayed up. I thought that was a really neat story.

Central Parks

I had heard from a few people that they did not like this walk very much. But, I was very surprised after going on the walk to hear that. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It wasn't the most exciting, but it was fun to just relax and enjoy 3 beautiful parks that London has to offer us. It did seem long at times, but the views were wonderful. 

When we passed Buckingham Palace time was definitely on our side, because they were just doing the changing of the guard. It was neat to see that, and it definitely wasn't as busy since we were there on a Tuesday afternoon.  I had missed the changing of the guard when we went with our class, so it was neat to see. I think I might try to go back and get closer for all the festivities. 

One of my favorite parts of the walk was walking through Hyde park along the Serpentine. It was beautiful and I loved all the birds as long as they didn't try to fly over me! Haha. I did not want a repeat of the traumatic experience that happened to me last Sunday. I want to go back to the Serpentine and try renting one of those boats to ride around on the lake. We also made sure we went past the Peter Pan statue. There was a wreath that someone had made with a poem for their little girl that had died. It was heartbreaking to read it, but neat to make the memory of seeing that statue more prominent in my mind.

I enjoyed learning about how St. James' park was once a Zoo and they had Elephants. That seems like a crazy animal to have here in cloudy London.

By the end of the walk I was ready to be home, even though I enjoyed the walk quite a bit.

Nottinghill

I really enjoyed the walk around Nottinghill. It was nice to explore more of the area where we are living and get acquainted with our surroundings a bit more.

I thought it was really interesting to see the stark contrast of where we started the walk and where we ended it. The starting point of the walk is in a bit rougher part of town, and where we ended is probably one of the more affluent parts of London. This huge difference happened in just a couple miles. It was interesting to see that.

I've been on Portobello road a few times, and going today was a lot different. Since it wasn't a Saturday, the market wasn't happening. But, there was still a lot of neat stores to look around in. I really like having Portobello road close by for us to explore in, and I think that was probably the highlight of this walk.

It was interesting to read in the book that one of the higher end neighbor hoods used to be a place where the people kept pigs in Victorian England! People used to refer to the area as the 'slums', because it was just a bunch of pig manure. I would have never guessed that, just because it's so beautiful now.

Jaynann and I took a picture in front of St. John's church. It had a really pretty garden area and a beautiful clock tower.

It was a really nice, relaxing walk--that's for sure. :)

Regent's Park

This walk was gorgeous! I loved walking through this vast green park on a very sunny and warm day. Our groups excitement didn't really start until we got to the top of the hill in Primrose park and saw the city skyline laid out below our feet. It was so pretty! It was nice to just walk through the park and enjoy the views around us. Dogs ran everywhere and parents walked around with their kids. It was really just a beautiful day and I think that made a huge difference.

My favorite part of the walk was walking by the boat lake and seeing all the birds. The small lake was super pretty. I wouldn't mind going back there on a warmer day when the boats are available to rent. That would be a lot of fun. We also saw the roof of the London Mosque which looked pretty neat. I'm excited to visit there soon. I think it's fascinating that London is dotted with parks like these for us to enjoy. It's truly something that I need to take more advantage of, I think. It was a very good walk and I'm glad I went.