An A-bridge-d Tour of London

Alright, you have been patient long enough.  I have finally written the second installment to Living on the Edge of the Thames.  I apologize for the wait, but I became quite ‘poorly’ (British for sick) a week before classes started here, and am just within the past few days feeling myself again.  It has also been quite an adjustment to a new university, so I will definitely write more about Trinity Laban as I reflect in the days and weeks to come.

In the meantime however, there are some fun touristy things I would like to catch you up on, that I have been saving for a few weeks now.  Although orientation is long past, those were the weeks I got to be a tourist and see as much of the city as I could in a matter of days.  London, as many of you know, is a rather expensive city.  So I did what all college students on a budget do…found a way to see the majority of it for free!

Instead of paying for a tour, I went online and searched for the best walking tours in London and from that added a few sites I really wanted to see to create my own route.  For the most part I combined the “Bridge” and “Cultural” tours you can find here.  After convincing a friend of mine to humor me, we set off to Buckingham Palace and wound our way across the Thames for four hours.

               

                     Walking Route…if you can make it in two hours the first pints on me!

Buckingham Palace was the first stop on this tour, a short walk from the Victoria tube station.  Although none of my pictures do it justice because of the angle of the sun, the palace is quite beautiful.  I spent a fair amount of time in front of the gates, watching the guards and trying to capture the detailed, gilded doors with a camera zoom that did not have 

Buckingham Palace Gates

a prayer.  The royal family was not in at the time I visited because they were on holiday, but even so I was surprised how close we were able to get to the Palace itself.  Although the President and Queen hold very different roles in the United States and England respectively, the only thing we have comparable to Buckingham Palace is the Whitehouse, which can barely be seen from the road miles off.  Here, I was easily fifty feet from the front doors.

Since it was such a beautiful day, people were spilling into Green Park, so I joined them taking a path via St. James’s Park toward the Westminster Bridge.  Along the way we entered the most iconic part of London, Parliament Square, just steps from Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben.  Obviously I made stops to see all three, although the Abbey is currently under renovation so it was a little difficult to see.

           

              St. James's Park

Westminster Abbey

Pro-Tip:  If you must have a picture in a telephone booth (because lets be honest, they are too iconic to pass up), I recommend taking those pictures somewhere along the route between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.  These are the cleanest booths in all of London, and the sidewalks are also big enough that you will not block the flow of traffic.

The best place to see the Palace of Westminster (house of Parliament) though is from the opposite bank of the Thames, which is where I was headed next across the Westminster Bridge.  After taking many more of pictures I then made a left toward the London Eye.  I will say this was probably the worst decision of my tour path, but I did want to see the Eye up-

Palace of Westminster

close.  For those who do not enjoy crowds of tourists though, the area surrounding the Eye is probably the most crowded place in London and walking a few extra blocks away from the river bank would be advised.  That said, I was witness to some great African Dance by street performers along the way and a lot of people making bubbles.


Heading north along the river then I went towards two more bridges, and with them two areas that represent my two interests quite well – Law and Art.  After crossing the Waterloo Bridge, I found myself very close to the ‘Inns of Court,’ where what we know as law firms are housed.  Most notably in this area are Summerset House and Temple Church.  Farther down the river then, and across Black

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

Friar’s Bridge begins a taste of the artistic and cultural landscape of London.  This area on the South Bank of the river includes Shakespeare’s Globe Theater and The Tate Modern within easy walking distance from one another.  The Milenium Bridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral can also be seen from here, although I decided to continue farther up the river.

The last bridge on my walk was the Tower Bridge, so often confused for the London Bridge, that is another icon of London.  Although the view of it from the London Bridge is great, that is really the only reason to visit the London Bridge since it looks like a pretty standard highway crossing.  I crossed the Tower Bridge though among hordes of people there to see the Columbian football match that evening, and to meet up with some friends for a picnic in Trinity Square Gardens overlooking the Tower of London and just a few steps from Tower Hill tube station.

 Although it was a really long walk (and this is a really long blog post), it was also a great route to take for the highlights of London.  I would highly recommend my personalized walking tour if ever you visit this lovely city.  More of my adventures will come soon, but until then I hope you enjoy this post and if you have not yet seen my latest blog through IFSA-Butler you can find that here.

~ London Logic ~

When the London Bridge was originally built in 1176, it was the first permanent (non-wooden) bridge to cross the Thames.  It was needed to aid traffic since the only other way to get across the river was by ferry or wooden bridges frequently destroyed by fire.  However when it was completed, the bridge was host to several shops and houses whose rent funded the construction, but whose existence significantly limited space available for traffic.  In those days crossing the bridge could take up to an hour. 

Now if you are really wondering if the London Bridge fell down, instead of finding extreme interest in this historical traffic problem…it did!  The bridge collapsed on multiple occasions, including in 1281 when Queen Eleanor was blamed for misaproriating revenues to repair the bridge.  This was cause for the addition of “my fair lady” to the popular rhyme London Bridge is Falling Down.  What a scandal!

Click here for more information about the London Bridge.