Final Entry

The three walks that I would consider to be the best would be the Lambeth and the South Bank Walk, the Fleet Street and St. Paul's Walk, and the Regent's Park Walk.

The Lambeth and the South Bank Walk took you through some of the city south of the Thames, then through Archbishop's Park and over to the Thames itself. The majority of the walk consisted of walking along the riverside, past the London Eye, past multiple bridges, until you finally cross the Waterloo Bridge past the Somerset House and get to the Temple tube station. This was one of the best walks because it allowed you to experience what you can only experience in London. The beginning allowed you to see typical parts of the city; the park was an enjoyable play area to walk through. Then the walk along the Thames was the perfect way to see the quintessential sights of London. From across the river, while casually strolling through the less-crowded boardwalk, you were able to see a clear and perfect view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament; soon after you were able to walk right under the London Eye. Beautiful views of the London skyline and sites such as the Somerset House could also be seen.

The Fleet Street and St. Paul's walk took you through the area to the west and south of St. Paul's. It leads you through winding streets, through pubs, alleyways, past churches until it takes you straight up Fleet Street with a perfect view of St. Paul's in the background. And then continues to take you through back ways and lesser known streets in the city until you end up back where you started at St. Paul's tube station. This is one of the best walks because this was the one walk that I felt like I really got into the heart of the city - not just tourist areas, but areas of the city where people actually live/work/socialize. It took you off the main roads and took you down streets and alleyways that you normally would never think to go down. You got to see notable churches and historical pubs that were interesting, but you also just got to see the normal pubs that young professionals go to after work. It took you out of the tourist bubble and into the heart of London.

The Regent's Park Walk led you south from Chalk Farm tube station and down to Primrose Hill, a grassy hill that gives you a complete view of the London skyline. Past Primrose Hill, the walk continues down past the London Zoo and through Regent's Park. Along the way you pass the Boating Lake and go through Queen Mary's Gardens, eventually leaving the park and walking along the road until you come to Regent's Park tube station. This was one of the best walks because it showed you the best of London's parks and city gardens. Primrose Hill and Regent's Park are both breathtaking beautiful and are huge. You get the best experience of London's natural beauty that still exists amidst the numberless buildings and apartments. It allows you to see the formality of the gardens, a trademark of British landscapes, but also the soft, natural green hills that are so representative of England as well.

Inns of Court Walk

So for this walk, I decided to run it by myself. I went running on Tuesday morning and it was sunny and beautiful. I read through the description of the walk in the book first before I started, and to be honest I wasn't that excited. All of the sites and landmarks the books described I didn't really recognize and they didn't seem to be too interesting. However, I ended up absolutely loving this walk. This walk was seriously gorgeous - it basically epitomized everything I love about London. And it was also really cool to see some of the landmarks pointed out by the book.

I really liked seeing the Old Curiosity Shop - one of the oldest shops in London and made famous by Charles Dickens. And it was cool to go to the different Inns - Gray's Inn, Staple Inn, Lincoln's, etc. However, what I enjoyed most were all the picturesque streets and gardens that could be found in random corners on this walk. So many streets were lined with brick houses and black lampposts with flower boxes lining all the windows. There seemed to be just flowers everywhere. I loved the small squares that had lots of roses and fountains: Gray's Inn Square, there was one in between Old Square and New Square street, and my favorite was the grassy garden area just south of Middle Temple Hall. So gorgeous!!

The City Walk

Amy, Sydnie, Laura and I did this walk Tuesday night. We had a blast! It was so fun to go explore around the city. We could definitely tell this is more of a commercial area rather than residential; since we did it in the evening, parts of the walk seemed almost deserted. All the businessman were just leaving from work. The main features of this walk that we noticed were statues and tall city buildings rather than gardens or natural areas. it was really cool to see buildings that I've heard about, but didn't actually know where they were/what they were/what they looked like. It was so awesome to see Lloyd's! I had no idea how cool of a building it is. It was so huge and kinda had this futuristic vibe to it; it almost looked like building had its plumbing inside out. I had heard about this building, but it was interesting to find out exactly what it was: a famous insurance market that was started in 1680. We also got to pass through the Royal Exchange Buildings - started as a meeting place for merchants in the 1500's apparently. And I'm also glad I got to see the Bank of England - Sydnie really wanted to see this because it was in Mary Poppins! I really liked to see how these places have so much history and are so old, yet they're still in use today and are still play a major role in London's economy. It just emphasizes London's identity as a unique blend of old/traditional and new/modern.

And of course, we got to see some sites of pure historical significance. We got to see the Monument for the Great Fire, which I didn't even know existed.It was a huge column that was there to commemorate the Great Fire of 1666 which burned down huge portions of the city; it was really cool that it was built on the actual spot where the fire started. And I had no idea it was built by Christopher Wren! He really was famous for more than just St. Paul's - we also saw St. Mary-le-bow Church, designed by Wren as well. He was definitely one of the most famous architects of London. And of course, at the very end of the walk it was awesome to get another view of the Tower of London!

Westminster Walk

Lorraine and I decided to do this walk on Sunday afternoon in between the morning service and Evensong at Westminster Abbey. We had heard that this was a really cool walk to do at night, but we loved doing it during the day. Once again, we got to explore a part of the city that I had never been to before. I really love how these walks take us down the back streets and through random, out of the way areas; Lorraine and I were talking about how even though we're being guided by the book, it still feels like we're exploring and discovering lesser known, out of the way things. I loved how we got to walk past the houses of people like William Pitt and Sir Isaac Newton! It's interesting how their houses are now just regular shops or homes - you wouldn't even notice any significance to them if it weren't for the blue circle plaques that saw their name and years they lived there for. It was so awesome seeing where these people actually lived! It was also kinda cool because in the area around William Pitt's house, there were all these TV/movie trailers parked on the side of the road; there were all these actors' names on the doors of the trailers, we didn't recognize any - but who knows, they could be famous British actors and we were right outside their trailers!
I also really loved being able to see Buckingham Palace! The only time I had been there before was on the day of the Royal Wedding when the entire area was just crazy and packed full of people.It was so nice to be able to see everything on a normal day when there aren't as many people. The area was way more open and the gardens were gorgeous with the red flowers. I loved being able to actually go up to the gate and see the red guards right outside - and the flag was flying so the Queen was inside! So exciting.

Lambeth and the South Bank Walk

For this walk, I actually got to lead it! We got a pretty big group together: it was me, Amy, Sydnie, Macy, Mckenna, Sarah, Emily King, and the Miller kids. I was a little nervous because this meant I was navigating and I didn't want to get the whole group lost! But it ended up being just great.This was actually probably the most fun walk I've done. Archbishop's Park was so fun! There was an amazing playground that is every child's dream: there was tall slides and small animals you can ride in and a rock wall and a rope spiderweb and all kinds of other play equipment. As soon as we saw it, we all starting walking fast and then broke out into an all out run. It was so fun!After that we walked along the south bank of the Thames and it was gorgeous. We got to look out over Big Ben and the Thames right as the sun was setting - it was the perfect time of day.
We walked along the river and it was awesome to see the people sitting on all the benches and walking past the lampposts. We walked past the London Eye, which was absolutely massive to see up close. This was also a super busy spot in terms of restaurants and nightlife.
There were lots of people out and about having fun. We also got to walk over Waterloo bridge, which was a beautiful view and the first time I've walked across the river Thames. Overall, I would say the word to describe this walk would be enjoyable. And we didn't even get lost once!

Soho to Trafalgar Square Walk

Lorraine and I also decided to run this one as well! This one wasn't my favorite walk - there wasn't a whole lot to see that I was super interested in, but like anywhere in London, it was still enjoyable to experience it. It was cool while we running around to see places that I recognized and be able to orient myself; this walk was close to the Bloomsbury walk and so I was able to feel somewhat familiar with that section of the city. And once we could see the pillar from Trafalgar Square I was really able to orient myself and have a lot of those "Oh now I know where we are!" moments. Some parts of the walk were new too though. Even though this area isn't as shifty as it used to be, I could still tell that this wasn't the most wholesome, family-friendly area and I'm glad me and Lorraine ran here in the morning. But! It was also really cool to be able to run through Chinatown. I didn't even know this part of the city existed and I'm so glad we got to go through it! It smelled amazing the entire time and it was really interesting to see different types of shops and food places that you don't see anywhere in London - I feel like this really was a whole different side to the city.

Lorraine and I took photos on her phone, but unfortunately, her phone got stolen :(

Bloomsbury Walk

For this walk, Lorraine and I decided to actually run it! We went in the morning and some parts were pretty crowded, so it was pretty crazy trying to run our way through the maze. But it was a really nice walk! I wouldn't say it was my favorite or the most interesting, but it was still nice to see a different part of town. The first thing we ran past that I thought was pretty cool was the British Musuem; at first, we ran past the back of it and it didn't look that impressive, but later we ran past the front and it was amazing! It was so huge! And it made me really excited to actually go there and go inside. It was also way awesome to run past Charles Dickens' house where he wrote Olive Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. It was was kind of an ordinary house out of the way, but it was really cool to see where one of the most famous authors of all time lived. What I also really loved about this walk was being able to run through some of the really small parks that you wouldn't normally notice or go to. They're like small pockets of green in the city and they were gorgeous! My favorite was St. George's Gardens. It was a little interesting because it's actually also a graveyard - so there were tombstones lining the fences and everything. But it wasn't creepy, there were so many different types of flowers and roses; there was a small fountain in the center with benches all around and it was beautiful!