Missing London Already

So, to all of my followers out there, I made it home safe and sound. I almost got run into by a cart at the Houston airport because I have been trained to the left, but that was about as crazy as it got. I miss the UK already. It feels like a dream, and I am already planning my return trip. I have decided to keep this blog going. I will edit the top description soon, but I feel that I will always be a redcoat in London. Thanks for reading, and please continue to check often for updates about my crazy adventures and my reminiscing about England. I am going to keep posting pictures of my trip, seeing as I will never run out of them. :) Cheers!

This is a picture of my last night in England. I walked my favorite part of London, St. Pauls to London Bridge. I will post more about it later, when I am craving a conversation about the greatest city in the world. 

Concluding Thoughts on the Walks

           My favorite walks were 1) Central Parks, 2) Bankside and Southwark, and 3) Lambeth. Each had remarkable moments, and they have really defined different aspects of my time in London.

          Central Parks is my favorite walk, and it is simply because I cannot believe how incredible it was to take a tour of Parliament, and then to follow the walk route and Trooping the Colour at the same time. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I mean, how can you beat seeing the Queen and Royal Family while taking in the Royal Parks of London.

          Bankside and Southwark was a personal favorite because it was the walk that I led. I was quite nervous that I would get us lost, so I read through all the details in the book. It made the walk go very smooth, even though we hit construction. It also contains some of my favorite places in the city: Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe, Tower Bridge, and a Thames' view of the Tower of London. I know a lot of the history in this area, and I felt comfortable navigating it whenever we visited on subsequent days. I really love this part of the city, and I feel a strong personal connection. Walking on Tower Bridge was extremely magical for me. I love this city so much. It is overwhelming sometimes.

         Lastly, I loved Lambeth. We went at night, and it was gorgeous. It was calm and very relaxing. It is also where I discovered the part of the city that I stayed in when I came eight years ago. It has the iconic and perfect view of Parliament and Big Ben across the Thames. You also walk right beneath the Eye. It was a moment for me to reminisce, and I loved it.

(This is my favorite picture I have taken while in England.)

        I have loved this class since the day I discovered a London Walks book in the BYU bookstore about a year ago. This trip has been a goal and dream for me since I came when I was twelve. I have celebrated my twelfth and twentieth birthday in London, and I hope to celebrate many more. I have a strong and immovable desire to live here someday. It feels like home for me, and it is as incredible as I remembered it. I will always look to London as my home. As Samuel Johnson so wisely said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."

Last Walk- Central Parks

This was by far the most incredible walk I have done this semester. It was surprisingly easy to navigate, and we managed to follow the entire route by following Trooping the Colour. Which means, of course, that we got to see the entire royal family!!! :) Seeing the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Will and Kate, and the rest of the royals....it was absolutely surreal. I cannot believe how amazing this day has been, and I would not have wanted to end the walks class any other way.

There are plenty more where this came from, btw. :) But this was the best one. 

We did this walk starting at Westminster and worked our way backwards. I loved seeing all of this familiar area, especially since we had just finished a spectacular tour of Parliament. We wandered St. James square, and that is where we noticed the large parade was just starting to leave from the celebration for the Queen's birthday. We decided to follow it, as it conveniently followed the route of our walk. We also saw the Royal Bird Park, and it had some really crazy birds. There is also a small chalet for the Royal Bird Keeper to live in, if they choose to do so. We then got to see the royal guards on horse and with arms as they followed behind the Queen. After watching them for a short while, we noticed that everyone was beginning to make their way towards Buckingham. I overheard a lady say, "We need to get to the balcony," and then I realized that the Queen would come out onto the balcony. We took off, weaving through the crowd as quickly as possible. We managed to make it to about the fifth row in front of Buckingham, and we chose to stay clear of the front gate so that it would not block our view. It turned out to be the best spot to see everything. We saw all of the Royal Family, and then the fly-by occurred. The final planes shot out red, blue, and white smoke. It was so awesome. The Queen waved to me, and I waved back. It was a moment I will never forget.

We then made our way through the masses, past the reporters, and then into Green Park. It was beautiful, but I was most excited to see the Wellington Arch. It was rather magnificent, even though it pales in comparison to other European arches in size. We saw the Hard Rock Cafe of London, the one that started it all. We also saw a rather large protest against the rape of prostitutes. Then we crossed into Hyde Park, and it was wonderful and familiar. I have wandered it on my own several times, and so I really enjoyed knowing my way around. We ended, of course, in good ole' Kensington. It really feels like home to me.

What an incredible walk! This one was, hands down, my favorite. Because what else can compete with the Queen?

Bloomsbury Walk

Wow, time flies. I feel like I just barely stepped off the airplane, and now I have to get back on. It is rather heartbreaking because I feel like I have found myself in London. I believe I have found my home. I love it here, and I know that this will not be my last encounter with The Big Smoke. :) But I digress... here is my information about the Bloomsbury walk.

After an already amazing day filled with classes, a Cricket Match, and Abbey Road, we did the Bloomsbury walk. I thought it would be fun to lead it, even though I have already led one, because of the Brunswick group. While I am not Virginia Woolfe's greatest fan, I appreciate her work and wanted to see the literary hub where she and other contemporaries wrote some of the greatest modern art of England. Her tragic life was filled with insight on human life, written in a revolutionary style. Unfortunately, the area that spawned such great writing has been turned into a commercial district. There is a large Brunswick shopping centre that is massive and enticing. I was impressed by it, but disappointed that the area that was once known as the publishing centre of London has almost altogether disappeared. This walk was more difficult to navigate than I had imagined because there was a large construction project near Brunswick square. However, we persevered and managed to do the entire walk. I particularly enjoyed finding one of Dicken's homes. This one was where he wrote The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby. It amazes me that every turn in London brings the discovery of another famous Londoner's home. I love reading the small blue circles that seem to be on every street. The walk ends with the British Museum, and that is the perfect place to pose (see the picture above). I am excited to visit the Museum in the next couple of days. I really cannot get enough of London. 

The City Walk

This was a rather interesting walk because it deals mostly with the financial district. We explored this on Tuesday, May 31, and it was in the evening. It was apparent that the work day had ended because the area was rather deserted and closed. It turned out to be a fabulous time to explore the city because we had it all to ourselves. We even got to spin around and dance like annoying Americans in a Guildhall Yard within the walk. It was completely empty and entirely spacious. It was really interesting to see the last of the business employees leaving the buildings and going straight to the pubs. Drinking is a very social and exciting aspect of London culture, and it is amazing to see such a thriving social life. We took some fun pictures in front of the Royal Stock Exchange, as shown above. I was also amazed by Lloyds, as it was composed of several buildings. My favorite was the one that had architecture that reminded me of the Industrial Revolution, but modern. It was very steampunk. I really loved it. This walk was enlightening and rather fun, especially since it felt like we had London all to ourselves.