Inns of Court

We went on a circular walk this afternoon from Temple station. It is called the Inns of Court because it has 4 ancient inns of courts where barristers first train and then practice. I was glad we got to do this walk on a weekday because we walked right through the London School of Economics and it was neat to see college students passing through between classes or studying at the library. After passing the school, we walked right by the Old Curiosity Shop, which is said to be the oldest shop in all of London and the original shop in Dicken's novel. Kaylee was the fabulous leader to me, Elise, Liz Bevans, Carly, Ramzi and Sharon and the picture below shows all of us outside The Curiosity Shop on the walk.



The other points that stood out for me were seeing the point where the city of London meets the city of Westminster. It said that there used to be a Temple Bar that stood here but was obstructed because of traffic. And last it was neat to see where Shakespeare's 12th Night was first performed at Middle Temple Hall in 1601. I enjoyed this walk and Kaylee was a great leader & efficient leader for our group.

Bankside & Southwark

We went on a nice historic and monumental walk covering the Tate Modern, the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe, a medieval palace and the Tower Bridge. We got lucky and did this walk on a nice sunny clear day right along the riverside. This made for great views of the city throughout the walk. I really enjoyed seeing Shakespeare's Globe, a modern reconstruction of the early 17th century theatre where Shakespeare plays once took place. I wish we were to see one of them but they only take place from May to September. The picture below is of Shelbi and I at the Southwark Cathedral. It was created in 1220 and has a very medieval look to it. It is full of historic monuments and tombs.

The other highlight of the walk for me was getting to see and walk across the London Bridge. In the book it said that the Tower Bridge was built to provide a central section that could be opened to let tall ships through and the overhead walkway was created to allow pedestrians to use even when the bridge was closed to road traffic. I really enjoyed getting to walk across the bridge and just the beautiful architecture to behold when walking across.I recommend all visiting London to do it.

Lambeth and the South Bank

I went on a beautiful walk from the Waterloo station today with Jaynann, Emily Layton and Brittani Coats as our guide. This walk is best known for its amazing views. We first saw Lambeth Palace in the background of Archbishop's Park. After crossing Lambeth Palace Road we saw a spectacular view of the House of Parliament and Big Ben. It is important to do this walk on a clear day (which we had) to see everything as we did below.

Our walk along the Thames River was interrupted by some police man telling us to turn around due to a "suspect." We walked back and went on the street road instead. We then made over to the London Eye which is built for the millennium and I didn't know it was meant to be temporary but after becoming one of London's most popular tourist attractions, it is now a permanent feature in the London skyline. Somerset House-another beautiful building across the bridge from Thames River-used to be primarily the Navy Office but is now home to the Courtauld Institute of Art, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs and many other exhibition galleries. It was a great walk ending at Temple Station!

Notting Hill

For the Notting Hill walk we decided to do it as a group on a Saturday morning so we could have the Portobello market included in it. It was interesting to read in the book that Portobello Road was originally a farm track which was named in the 18th century in honor of the 1739 naval battle when the British defeated the Spanish in the Gulf of Mexico. Portobello road is certainly no farm track today, and was very busy and crowded with travelers and street marketers when we went today. Later on down the street we saw beautiful Victorian houses. Portobello Road was one of my favorite streets in London so far because it was so vibrant and there was so much energy that was contagious. I'm glad we had the opportunity to go on this walk and explore the area of Notting Hill and Portobello!

Bloomsburg

After touring the British Museum, we ventured off on our walk around the residential district laid out between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. The main highlights from this walk for me were St. George's Garden, the Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children and the Charles Dickens Museum. First our picture below is taken at St. George's Garden. This was right past Handel Street where Handel gave performances of his Messiah to raise money for orphans, which I thought was pretty neat. St George's Garden was once the burial ground of St George's Church-it was a quaint little area with some cemeteries inside. The Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children was a little sad to walk by, seeing sick kids walk inside, but it was neat to hear of the history and the founding of it. Seeing the Dickens Museum right where Charles Dickens lived in 1837 completing 3 novels here was really neat as well. Walking around the streets you could just imagine Dickens living there. It was really special to be on such a historic walk where you could imagine people living in the 17th and 18th century.

The City (East)

I went on a walk through the eastern half of the City which is the financial center and oldest centre of London. We got to walk and explore old and lots of money-making institutions such as the Royal Exchange, the Stock Exchange, the Bank of England, Mansion House and many beautiful old churches. It was neat to me to see how the old architecture was mixed with new wealth. The picture below is of the Stock Exchange building and to the right of it we saw Tower 42- the tallest building in central London.

This picture below is of Ashley and I at St Lawrence Jewry Church. This church now serves as the official church of the Corporation of London and was named in medieval times as it stood in the Jewish quarter of the City. I really enjoyed this walk because it was a very financial district with lots of new wealth. Not many people live in this area so it was nice to see what a typical work environment looks like. But along with the wealth, there is great history and culture still dating back to the 1600 & 1700's. My 2 favorite spots on this walk were the Monument-which was the city's memorial to the Great Fire of 1666 and walking through Leadenhall Market.

Central Parks

For my London Walks class I went on my 1st walk Saturday called "Central Parks." We have a great London book called "Walking London" that will serve as our guide in 12 walks we get to do throughout the semester. I'm really looking forward to these walks as it is a great way to see the area and orient ourselves to where we are. So after we did the changing of the guards and Buckingham Palace we first went across to St James Park-the oldest and most intimate garden of the royal parks in London. There was a beautiful lake around the park we took a big group picture right in front of. As we crossed over the bridge-there was a great front view of Buckingham Palace and then right when we went across we saw the Horse Guards coming just in time.

After heading out from St James Park we made our way into Green Park. Green Park was much plainer with no lake or flowers around. We saw the Wellington Arch as we made our way over to Hyde Park. Hyde Park is amazing and so much bigger than I expected. We went around the pond, saw people roller skiing and then made our way up to check out the Serpentine Gallery for our Fine Arts class. It was a beautiful walk (although quite cold) and a great way to see the parks London has to offer and how closely we are connected to Buckingham Palace.

Soho to Trafalgar Square

Ashley Jorgensen and I planned our next walk from Soho to Trafalgar Square. We got together and mapped our route going from the Northern line and getting off at Goodge station. We were the guides for Julie Nelson, Sara Turner, Laura Garding and Madeline Fitzgerald. It was nice to be the one in charge because I felt like I really had to pay attention to exactly where we were going and what we were seeing.

This picture above is Ashley and I at a replica pump where the breakout of cholera started in 1854 that killed over 10,000 people. Fortunately Dr. John snow realized that all victims of this disease were drawing water from the same street pump. When they removed this pump handle-the death rate fell. Snow's discovery-that cholera is water-borne was very important in medical history!

We went to SoHo square where the next photo of our whole group was taken. It was interesting to learn that SoHo square used to be a royal hunting ground and 'soho' was an old hunting cry, since now it is such a metropolitan shopping & dining area. There was a 17th century statue of Charles II in the middle of the square our photo is right in front of.

From SoHo we made our way through Chinatown and eventually over to Leicester Square-which is the entertainment and arts industry and Trafalgar Square-where the National Gallery is found. We saw the statue of Admiral Nelson in the center and the statue of King Charles I on horseback. It is neat to see Big Ben and the Eye in the background there too as you look out of the fountain the middle of the square. We made our way out and back home to the subway afterwards. It was a great walk and I really enjoyed leading it and guiding my group.