Landmark London

Dear Grace,

When we moved to London and I bought our little blue book at an old school book store on Fullam Road, I decided to wait and go on the first adventure walk with our first visitors. They happened to be Mr. and Mrs. Elpers. The weather was perfect and it was a nice way to see most of the London landmarks. You couldn't get enough of the Elpers while they were here. You were constantly staring, smiling and laughing with them. Enjoy.

Cheers! Mummy 

Adventure Walk #1: Landmark London: the best sights in the shortest time

The Adventure: For those of you who have just arrived in London or haven't done the tourist thing for years, we've created a quick taster (or refresher), get your bearings kind of walk that will take you past as many of London's most famous landmarks as possible in a couple of hours. 

The walk starts at St. Paul's Churchyard and Cathedral. We didn't start our walk here with the Elpers, but you and I have already been here with Daddy. If you need a reminder of the London Fire adventure walk, click HERE. Come to think of it...we didn't start, end  or walk past some things in the middle. Once you are done reading this walk, you decide if it should even count as completing adventure walk #1.

We didn't go to St. Paul's Cathedral with the Elpers, but we did stop by the Monument. They climbed all the way to the top and were handed their certificate upon their exit. You and I were patiently waiting; listening to tourists read about the London fire and the Monument in their languages. French, Italian, and of course English from groups of loud and crazy Americans. :)

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down...

At one point on this trip, Mrs. Elpers and I were singing the London Bridge nursery rhyme to you and you loved it. 

I made our friends stop at a red phone booth to take silly touristy photos.

 

Grace, do you remember doing this with me when we first moved to London? In case you need a reminder, click HERE.

We saw this friendly chap as we were passing the Tower of London. Little did we know there were many more interesting street performers in our near future...

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down...

Just kidding. We were walking across Tower Bridge. London Bridge is not this cool in person.

Grace, Mr. and Mrs. Elpers were our friends who Daddy and I went out to California for their wedding when I was pregnant with you. 

There was a cool art display along this part of the River Thames. The artist traveled all over the world taking pictures of different ceremonial events. He went to all the continents, and photographed all the major religions and all stages of life including both traditional and modern events. "Irrespective of our culture we are all basically the same- and we all share a need to manifest our steps along the path of life." - Anders Ryman 

For more information go to Rites of Life.

Old and new

Many years ago this used to be filled with water for horses to drink instead of beautiful flowers for a photo opp today. It is called a horse's troff. 

Who wants to check out this museum? It's on the other side of the River Thames as the Tower of London.

We are finally starting our adventure walk. "Ahead of you is the towering chimney of the Tate Modern art gallery in the old Bankside Power Station. To its left is the reconstruction of Shakespear's timber-framed Globe theatre." 

"Cross over to Doggett's pub and hop down the stairs towards the river. Head west along the Thames Path, passing the Oxo Tower, the National Theatre, the National Film Theatre and the Festival Hall."

I saved the best for last.

"There are often street performers and free events along this stretch, as well as skateboarders and bikers, pavement artists and musicians." Boy, was the little blue book right...

I look so determined to find old school leather bound books. It must have been the teacher in me. The Elpers and I also found some cool antique maps.

I spy an action photo of somebody spray painting the wall.

The street performers made me feel back home in Chicago, except for this interesting fellow. Look closely at the man whose head is exposed but his body is hidden under the table. This is probably one of the weirdest things the Elpers and I have ever seen. 

"Pass under the Waterloo Bridge, heading for the London Eye, the great wheel where you can ride high over London." Mr. Elpers took a cool photograph of the London Eye. 

"When you reach Westminster Bridge, cross back over the river. Big Ben and the House of Parliament are on your left."

"Turn right into Whitehall. Quite soon you'll pass the bottom of Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives. Peer through the railings and see who you can see: there is always a policeman on the doorstep of No. 10. Walk on until you get to the guards on horseback at the entrance to Horse Guards Parade." The Elpers took pictures on their camera, but these are the pictures we took on ours the first time we walked by here.  

"Turn left between the guards, crossing over to St. James's Park."

These chairs are all over the royal gardens in London. This was the perfect spot to relax and enjoy a coffee for a moment. 

Just taking in our surroundings...

"Run through the park all the way to the end to see Buckingham Palace. If the flag is up, the Queen is at home."

Just around the corner from the palace people were "tailgating" in their fancy clothes (proper dressy hats included). We later found out the Queen was having a biannual garden party. To attend the garden party, you have to receive a personal invitation from the Queen herself. The majority of the guests received some type of recognition for their service to the country. (ie military or philanthropic) This group was even drinking champagne. I took this picture as I was walking past them so it's a little fuzzy. You get the idea.

"Walk all the way back down the Mall, through Admiralty Arch to Trafalgar Square. Look out for the ships on the top of each lamp-post, representing Lord Nelson's fleet, and head for the the 170 ft high Nelson's Column dominating the centre, the stone lions at each corner, the fountains and the National Gallery. The columns here were taken from one of George IV's old palaces. Trafalgar Square is the very centre of London." 

We skipped St. Martin-in-the-Fields church and the London Coliseum, which is home of the English National Opera. The walk ends in Covent Garden, but we didn't go that way with the Elpers. Instead we headed back toward Old Brompton road to meet Derik and Martha at a pub for dinner.

If we would have continued to the rest of the walk we would have "headed down King Street, to the cafes, bars, street entertainers and shops where we could have had something to eat or drink, or just stop and take in the free entertainment." You did this with Daddy and me on one of our first weekends in London. We don't have a picture of Covent Garden, yet because we didn't have our camera with us the first time we checked it out.

The end. What do you think? Should we be able to tick this off as completing the first walk from the list of adventure walks through London?