This is the page where I will post all the information that I have been studying for my class, London Walks. We are required to travel to certain places around London, take certain routes and find certain things.
Walk Number One: "LITTLE VENICE":
We traveled through the tube and got off at "Warwick Tube Station". We got a little turned around at the beginning but after we asked for some directions and followed the roads, we came upon "Randolph Road" which is kind of where our journey began!
We first learned about how at Paddington Green the Omnibus service started which led to the start of busses, taxi's and the underground in London. It originally started with a single coach pulled by three horses in the 1800's. Here is our reenactment of the coach with the 3 horses!
It started raining hard while we were walking and so none of the boats were running along the river but the Regent River was still beautiful at night.
Here is the map of "Paddington Green" which was the center of all the places we saw which included churches, rivers and statues.
We also traveled across the bridge and went and found the "Traveling Cafe". They also had many other resturaunts along the river and other boats had many activities going on with other parties and eateries.
Walk Number Two: "HYDE PARK":
We started our walk by first learning about how Hyde Park was used up until today. We learned that is was used in the past for hunting and outdoor entertainment; that it used to have a high wall surrounding it until it was taken down and replaced by an iron railing and also that the park had the Serpentine Lake added in the 1700's. This gave us good insight to how the park had evolved.
We first started at Marble Arch where we learned that it was the royal enterance to Buckingham but it was too narrow for the coaches, so it was reconstructed.
We then went through and Hyde Park enterance and arrived at Speakers Corner. Here we learned about how every Sunday people come and address people about any sort of subject ranging from politics to religion. I was most interested to learn that the Mormon Missionaries came and addressed people here.
We then went and explored some of the neat statues, especially the one featured in the book called "Statue in Hyde Park". It was neat to look at and trying to figure out what it meant.
Along the way we found a plaque that was dedicated to Princess Diana, which leads to the Lady Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain.
After that we found the Statue of Achilles. It was neat to learn that it was created in honor of the Duke of Wellington and how the women who paid for it were ashamed when they saw it.
We then passed through Hyde Park Corner and saw the Wellington Arch which was built in the 1800's and as it serves as a symbolic enterance into the west of London.
We then turned around to see the Appsley House which is filled with paintings, statues and gifts that were given to the "Iron Duke".
Lastly we walked down Rotten Road (which has many theories about how the road's name came about including coming from the word "Rotteran" or the French saying "Route de roi) and saw the many beautiful gardens and admired the statues and their meaning.
Walk Number Four: "WALK ON THE WILD SIDE: SOUTH OF THE THAMES":
Walk Number Three: "HOLLAND PARK":
Today I went to Holland Park for my next walk. We decided to walk there because it was so close to the center. It was a pretty walk there and as we walked we learned about the history of the park. There was originally a manor on the ground owned by a man, one of the wealithiest in the kingdom. It was then passed down, through marriage, to the Earl of Holland. Then in the 1900’s it became what we know it is today, Holland Park.
Along the way we found “Aubrey Way”. And so of course I had to take a picture with me in front of it. As we walked we admired all of the houses and learned that many of them sell for multi millions of pounds…and I can see why.
We passed by St. George’s church on our walk as well. It was pretty but a funeral going on, which was sad. We then also passed by a statue of St. Bolodymyer, which was actually constructed by the Ukrainians for the establishment of Christianity in the Ukraine.
We turned on the wrong road and so we didn’t make it to the mews road but the road we did go down led us to some pretty cool houses and we even ran across some embassies. Cool!
We finally made it to the park and walked inside the Japanese Kyoto Peace Gardens which were beautiful and peaceful and we learned that it has a lot of symbolism.
As we continued to walk in the park we saw wildlife, as the book said we would, such as fish, squirrels, birds and even…peacocks.
We once again got lost, but ended up passing by the youth hostel that we read about earlier and how part of it was made from the east wing of King George VI mansion. I appreciated it more after staying at hostels this past week.
We then also passed the Dog Toilet. I admit that I have never seen one before and hope to never see another one again.
We then left the park and headed back on the long walk home throughout the streets of London! We even found some good shopping places!
Before we started this walk we learned that there were settlements south of the Thames, now Southwark, where it was a major enterances into London. It was a place for major activity, it was a theater center and business was done there such as brewing, weaving, glass making and leather tanning.
Our first stop is "one of the most famous bridges in the world". It was interesting to learn that it was originally created to provide passage over the Thames.
One of the most interesting things I learned was that it use to be a chocolate brown color but it was painted red, white and blue for the Queen's Silver Jubilee.
We then passed the HMS Belfast which we learned was from WWII as it was used during the whole war, including the Normandy invasion.
We then walked on Tooley Street which came from “Olaf”, a King of Norway who was responsible for regaining control of England from the Danes. As He the sailed his boat through the London Bridge, it came down. This is possibly where the nursery rhyme came from. Cool!
Being from Arizona I was most interested to learn that the original was purchased and transferred to Arizona. I have yet to see it, but I want to now. (Many think the purchaser thought he was buying the Tower Bridge).
We then came upon the Southwark Cathedral. It has great gothic architecture and was beautiful inside! Right next to the Cathedral is Borough Market. We stopped and got some lunch before we headed to our next spot.
As we walked more we passed the replica of the “Golden Hine” which Sir Francis Drake went around the globe over 400 years ago! Wow!
The Clink Prison Museum was along our way. It looked really scary and a place I would NEVER want to visit. (And obviously the guy who wrote the book feels the same, he gave it a "one star").
Then came the Globe Theater and it was interesting to learn that the building restoration goes back to Tudor times such as no microphones or lights. I am glad we got to see a play in there and will have the chance to go back and see another one.
Next was the Millennial Bridge made for the millennium celebration in London. Adjustments had to be made due to the swaying of the bridge. Next to the bridge is the Tate Modern Museum.
We passed the Waterloo Bridge, the Blackfriar's Bridge and then we came upon the National Theater (1976) which has 3 huge auditoriums. There were also fun shops around with second-hand sells.
The last bridge we passed was the Hungerford Bridge which actually goes back to 1840’s and until 2002 a small footbridge was the only way to get to from Embankment to South Bank.
Walk Number Five: "Greenwich":
Before I start by blog, I would like to make a personal shout out to my favorite person in London: Leslie Macfarlane!!! :)
So we started off the day by taking the Tube and then the DLR to Greenwich. Once we got there we immediately saw the Thames and we could see the Old Royal Navy College which was actually done by Christopher Wren (the same as who did St. Pauls Cathedral). It is also where Henry VIII and his 2 daughters were born.
It was used for many different things such as the palace of Henry VI, it was torn down and rebuilt and it also was used as a hospital for seamen.
We then went into the painted hall and chapel. The hall was used for formal dining and public functions. It was painted by Thornhill who also did the interior on the dome in St. Paul’s.
Sadly the Cutty Sark was closed but we learned that it dates back to 1869 and that it was used to bring tea from China and wool from Australia.
We then went to the National Maritime Museum which had all sorts of ships and submarines. They even had an exhibit on toy boats.
The coolest part of the day was seeing the dividing line between the eastern and western hemispheres. Also learning about Greenwich Meridian Time and how it is used as the standard measurement of time throughout the world, and that it is accurate to 100th of a second. Wow!
We then went to the Queen’s house where we learned it was made for the wife of James I but it ended up being occupied by the wife of Charles I. It was then used as a school and as a museum today.
We ended our walk by going through the tunnel that took us under the river Thames. It was constructed in 1902.
