Final Summary

Here are the winners in the contest for Amanda Giles' favorite London Walks:

3.  Fleet Street and St. Paul's

I liked this walk mostly because I love St. Paul's cathedral.  I did this walk right before we visited St. Paul's as a group and, in retrospect, that was one of the coolest days of this entire program in my book.  I learned a lot about London.  This walk was fun because I was still trying to figure out my way around and it seemed like every time we turned a corner, I saw another really famous London monument or building.  Some of the things I saw dated back hundreds and hundreds of years, whereas some of the things were modern and cutting-edge.  The juxtaposition was surprising and beautiful and truly set the tone for my London experience.  One of my favorite things about being in London has been observing this phenomenon--things in London have changed so much throughout its lengthy history, while at the same time, staying the same. 

2.  Bankside and Southwark

This walk lead me to some of my favorite places in London--the Tower Bridge, the Globe Theatre, and the Tower of London.  These are some of the coolest pieces of architecture in London in my book.  Bri, Kelsey, and I did the walk at sunset after just returning from our weekend trip to Rome.  I was exhausted and suburned and could barely muster the will to go on this walk, but I'm so glad I did.  It made me feel so happy to be in London.  It really is a wonderful here and seeing all of these quintessentially English sights reminded me of that.

1.  Central Parks

And, the winner is...Central Parks!  This walk is absolutely my favorite that I have done in London.  As I've already said, I did this walk pretty early in the program for my morning run.  I hadn't been to the parks in London very much at that point, so I was really glad I was able to acclimate myself the the trails in the park by doing the Central Parks walk.  It was beautiful and refreshing.  These well-kept, secluded parks are my favorite thing about London.  Ever since, I have gone running through the parks a few times a week, adapting the Central Parks Walk so that I don't have to take the Tube or cross major streets.  It has been fun.  

  

The City East

Well, we sure went out with a bang!

We decided to procrastinate our final walk until the absolute final opportunity, so we had the lovely experience of doing this walk while tromping through the rain wearing super chic ponchos.

But honestly, it was actually kind of fun.  We saw some pretty great sights, including a bunch of beautiful churches (such as St. Mary at Hill Church, see above picture), the location where the Great Fire began (bummer!), some banking buildings like the the Stock Exchange building and the Bank of London, and some pubs.  Of course we didn't stop!  We did, however, make our way down to Starbucks to drip dry and drink steamers.

This walk was memorable, for sure!  

Marleybone

Well, this was just the greatest walk ever!  I know it wasn't included in the course syllabus, but it sounded so fun we had to do it anyway!  I feel like my London experience was greatly enriched my going on this walk.

Since we were switching things up already, we figured we might as well do the walk backwards!  It was super fun.  Here we are outside of the Marleybone church.

Other major sights included Madame Tussad's, the Chandos House, the Herteford House, Wyndam Palace, and the Marleybone Library, which we detoured to visit and pick up some books for English.

Basically, this walk was super educational and I think everyone should go on it.  Even if I hadn't gotten credit for it, I would have cherished my memories of this incredible walk for ever.  But, we are getting credit, right?

Westminster and St. James

I was never able to find anyone to do this walk with me (everyone had already done it) so I did it in chunks over several days as I saw some other sights with other people.

First, I passed Buckingham Palace and the back side of Westminster Abbey.  This picture was taken out front of Buckingham Palace, which I was able to visit with a group earlier.

Later, I got off at the Westminster Tube Station and went around Parliament and up to Westminster Abbey before going to the Churchill War Rooms with Jessica yesterday.

And then, after, I finished the walk on my own.  I walked through St. James Park and to the Horses Guard, and did a circle to make my way back to the Westminster Tube stop.

I really liked breaking the walk up like this.  It reminded me of how much I've learned about London since I came here.  If I had tried to do this whole walk on my own at the beginning of the program, I would have gotten totally lost.  Not only was I able to make my way around on my own, I knew so much about the things I was walking past!

London is beautiful; this walk reminded me of that.  Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace are some of the most beautiful "English" buildings I can think of.  It was so nice being able to look at all of them on my own as my time here comes to an end.

Lambeth and South Bank

I ran this walk in the rain...so no picture.  However, here's a picture of the Somerset House, which I passed on this run.

I love the Somerset House.  The Courtauld Gallery is one of my favorite museums I've visited here, and it's just a pretty building. 

Other major sights I saw were the Old Vic Theatre, Lambeth Palace, and the Bath. 

I passed a lot of commuters on their way to work, who probably wondered what the heck someone was doing going for a jog on their turf while it was raining.  But seeing all of these people going to work was probably my favorite part.  It made me feel really "big city" to see everyone wearing suits and reading the newspaper with their umbrellas.  I like this part of town. 

Bankside and Southwark

We did this walk after just arriving home from Rome.  So, we were pretty exhausted, as I'm sure is evidenced in the following picture.

Despite our exhaustion, this was a really fun walk.  It took us over the Tower Bridge, past the Globe and the Tate Modern, and around the Tower of London.  It reminded of the fact that I am ACTUALLY in London.  Standing on the Tower Bridge at sunset and looking out at the Thames was the coolest thing ever.  It blows my mind that, that morning I was in Rome at the top of the Castel d'Sant Angelo, and that evening, I was at the Tower of London.  I have a pretty cool life.

Inns of Court

Inns of Court was a really beautiful walk!  It seemes to be a swankier, prettier part of town.  There were lots of very, very well-dressed business people out drinking to celebrate the start of the weekend.

First we walked past the Royal Courts of Justice.  Talk about prettiest building ever!

After passing some hoppin' pubs, bars, and homeless people, we also passed by this store, "immortalized by Charles Dickens" in one of his novels.  

Then we got back onto a major road and saw some really cute looking shops.  We also passed this monument, which marks the entrance into the city of London.  It was pretty cool. 

Most of the individual inn entrances were closed because of the time, so we had to do some minor adjusting and cicrumvent the closed doors.  But it was still a fun walk in a pretty part of town!  I learned a lot about the court system, too.

Soho to Trafalgar Square

After church the other week, a few of us went for a little Sunday stroll from Soho to Trafalgar Square.  Actually, we went from Trafalgar Square to Soho, because it worked out better that way.

It was a fun walk!  We passed the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square--beautiful as always.

It ended up being really convenient that we passed through Soho on a Sunday afternoon, because most of the "specialty" shops were closed.  We did see two men wearing pink skirts, high heels, and blonde wigs though.  A pretty surprising sight for a Sunday afternoon!  It was sort of awesome.

Some of the major sights included lots of theaters, Chinatown, and Pollack's toy store.  It was a fun walk.  

Fleet Street and St. Paul's

This walk was really fun.  After a long (but awesome) morning at the Royal Gallery, it felt really great to walk around and find all of the landmarks in this walk.  We started at St. Paul's station and were able to see St. Paul's Cathedral right away.  It was beautiful.  The grounds with all the beautiful flowers, the architecture, the sheer size of the cathedral--all of it made me really excited to get a tour of the cathedral that afternoon.

After that, we walked through what seemed to be the business part of town.  We saw lots of office buildings and people in suits.  It was fun!

We also some beautiful old buildings, including the King's College Library.  It was stunning!  One of my favorite things about London is the mix of old with new.  Beautiful, historic buildings stand right next to Modern, industrial-looking ones all over town and the contrast is awesome to note.

We also passed Dr. Johnson's house--he wrote the dictionary!  That was cool.  We finally ended up back around St. Paul's Cathedral again, where we met the whole group for a tour.

I was behind the lens in this picture, but here's the rest of the walking group outside the Cathedral!

Regent's Park Walk

After our group walk on the Regent Canals and lunch and shopping at Camden Market, I went with some friends on the Regent's Park Walk.  After what was already a long day of walking, this walk seemed especially long.  We were still able to have some fun though.

One of the biggest accomplishments of the day was climbing Primrose Hill.  The view from the top was amazing--we could see all of London!

Other highlights included walking past the London Zoo, spotting Fredrich Engel's house, watching all of the interesting people, and running into a wedding procession in the middle of Regent's Park!

We took a picture at the big fountain near the London Zoo.  It was a fun monument to pass by!

Regent's Park is beautiful, and getting to explore it some more was really fun!

Central Parks Walk (Run?)

This morning, I was looking to both do a walk for our class and go for a run.  Per Dr. Crowe's suggestion, I decided to do both!  I took the tube to Westminster Station and started running!

It was a beautiful run.  At the beginning, I passed Big Ben and Parliament--my first time seeing it!  It was a little surreal.

I walked past lots of very official looking buildings, including the Foreign Office Building.  The architecture was simply beautiful; very ornate and European-looking.  I loved passing all of the monuments and statues.  The Wellington Arch was my favorite.

Eventually, I made my way to St. James Park.  I passed through to Green Park, then made my way to Hyde Park, and finished my jog in Kensington Garden.  The parks were all really beautiful and it ended up being a beautiful way to start my morning.  I was joined by lots of other runners and bikers, which was fun.

The scenery throughout all of the parks was beautiful.  I loved passing Round Pond and the Serprentine River.  Even though it was under construction, I really loved passing Kensington Palace.  It was beautiful!

Overall, my run was beautiful.  I loved having the London Walks route to give my work-out some structure!

I forgot to bring my camera (plus there was obviously no way I could carry it), so here's a picture from my first walk in Hyde Park!  Hope it suffices.