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.