Category: London

October 10, 2023

Well, it’s been a while! Turns out that not having a set daily routine and the deep desire to be horizontal for an hour or so between walking and dinner time, makes it harder to keep this thing updated everyday.
Anyway, I’ve been back in England for the past week and head to Germany today.

October 3
On My final day in Spain, I said goodbye to Rae and Rhonda in Fisterra and took a bus back to Santiago. I had a bunch of time to kill before my flight to London, so I wandered back towards the Cathedral and watched pilgrims come into the square for a little while. I found myself wondering if I would happen upon Linda who I knew had just recently arrived in Santiago. The magic of the Camino came through when I wandered into a flower lined square and saw her sitting on a bench. We ended up chatting on the bench for a few hours, which was really nice. When I started to get antsy about my flight, we said goodbye and I headed back to the bus station to catch a bus to the airport. Getting through security at the tiny Santiago airport was a breeze and I didn’t even have to take my shoes off. After a short flight, I was back in London, once again confused about which way to look when crossing the street and slightly jarred by the local language being English.

October 3-6
From October 3-6, I stayed with my dad’s cousin, Christina, in London. It was a lovely visit with some much appreciated dog time. Becky and Christina’s flat was a great central location for getting to different places. I saw a few friends, went to Portobello Road Market, walked around a cemetery, sat in St. James park, and went to the National Gallery. It was a nice, relaxed visit to London again.

Fisterra harbor from the bus

October 6-9
Then I headed to Bosham with my dad’s second cousin, Julie. She and her friend had been in London for the day, so I was able to meet them on the train to Chichester and we had a nice ride, chatting and looking at the countryside out the windows. We had a nice time working on a puzzle together and getting to know each other.
On Saturday, we walked around Bosham a little bit to fill the dog bag dispensers and see the town. Then we headed into Chichester to see a Peace Doves exhibit at the Chichester Cathedral and ate sandwiches in the Bishop’s public garden. It was a really nice, relaxed day that we ended with eating beans and baked potatoes while watching Strictly Come Dancing. It was really refreshing to have a day of doing touristy things but in a way that felt relaxed and more homey.

Bosham Church

October 11, 2023
September 3, 2023

Today was a day for taking tourist photos and seeing the outsides of a lot of famous buildings. I headed out from Maryland Station to Tottenham Court Road station on the Elizabeth Line around 11:30am for a grand walking adventure. I headed toward Trafalgar Square and got sidetracked by the bronze statue of Mary Poppins in Leicester Square on the way. The fountain at the center of square has a statue of William Shakespeare on it and around the fountain are other bronze statues of famous actors and characters.

Being acutely aware of the fact that I was in a super touristy area where most people defaulted to passing on the right rather than the left when walking, I headed for Trafalgar Square, hoping the sunhat I was wearing and the small bit of sunscreen I had on would be enough to keep me from getting too burned by the bright sunshine.

From there, I wandered along The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. The green space along the mall was really lovely and the trees made for a nice break from the sun. The feel is very similar to the National Mall in Washington DC, but with fewer cars and the buildings lining it are older and

Seeing the outside of Buckingham Palace felt very similar to seeing the outside of the US Capitol building. Lots of people taking photos to prove they had been there rather than because there were particularly interesting things to be taking pictures of. So, I dutifully joined the group at the gates to stick my camera through the bars to try to get a picture of the puffy-hatted guards and was rather underwhelmed.

The grounds around the Palace were more interesting, beautiful flower arrangements, gilded gates with statues representing various regions of The Empire were also interesting.

From there, I headed to Westminster, just a short 15 minute walk away. I opted not to go into the Westminster Abbey gift shop and instead just walked around the outside looking at the immense detail in the building’s exterior. The Palace of Westminster is somehow so much larger than I imaged it would be from seeing it in photos and in media. Big Ben, of course was conspicuous and as I started across the Westminster Bridge I did my best to take a classic tourist photo that through it’s imperfections of cars, people, and buses in the foreground proves that I was there and took a photo to prove it.

From Westminster I headed to Waterloo Station to join the London Loo Tour I had scheduled with my friend Alice’s sister Rachel. After only a minor moment of confusion about which toilet I could use and which (out of service one) we were meeting in front of, I joined up with the tour by spotting Rachel’s plunger.

The tour was really interesting and highlighted for me, as was intended, how important and complicated public sanitation projects are and how urban, modern society relies so much on systems many people think very little about on a day to day basis.

After the tour, Rachel suggested I could check out the a pub with a small Sherlock Holmes exhibit in it. I am not sure exactly if I found all of the ‘museum’ material, as most of it was posters and information about Sherlock Holmes related plays and movies, but it was still a fun, free diversion from walking and there was a room setup like Holmes’ office which was fun to look at for a brief moment before heading out.

From there, I walked back across the Thames to the Southbank where I wandered into a free art exhibit at Bankside Gallery, home of the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers. It was a nice little exhibit of different artists and a variety of subject matter. From there, I wandered along the Thames more just enjoying being out in the city on a nice day.

I saw the outside of the Globe Theater, which unlike some of the buildings I saw today is probably really only interesting on the inside. I thought the most interesting part of the outside of the building was how unimpressive it was, nestled between modern buildings. I think the real way to experience it would be to see a show there because while all the world is a stage, a stage isn’t very exciting without a play.

From there I walked back over the Thames, this time on the Southwalk Bridge and headed back to Leytonstone.

According to my phone’s distance tracker, I walked 10.7 miles today, which includes a trip to the duck pond this morning. So, all in all, a good day of sun and fresh air along with silly photos taken for the sake of taking photos and a nice touristy time in London.

September 3, 2023
August 31, 2023

Well, it happened, I am finally off on my grand European adventure with some specific plans laid out, but a lot of uncertainty built in for new opportunities to arise.

I left Baltimore, Maryland in the evening of August 29th with a carry-on backpack and a small ‘personal’ item for under the seat. With the full moon visible over the clouds as we made our descent, I arrived in Reykjavík, Iceland at 4:30am local time for a short layover before heading to Stansted Airport outside London, UK. The flights were uneventful, but I didn’t sleep especially well, which was to be expected. My attempt at making a neck pillow by using the removable waist strap of my backpack was somewhat, but not very effective. It may need to be prototyped more to make it work better, but I think there is potential.

Two months of travel during a season change in one backpack? I guess we’ll see how it goes!

It needs some work, but maybe I should suggest Cotapaxi (the backpack company) workshop it as a feature of the backpack. Hmmm

Border control entering the UK was much less involved than I expected when compared to my recent visit to Canada. Just a quick passport scan and a camera that probably uses facial recognition software and I was through to head to customs with nothing to claim. Unfortunate that I don’t have a passport stamp to prove I did the trip, but that’s okay.

So, here I am, visiting a friend in Leytonstone, London where the sky is currently the expected cloudy grey and there is a slight chill in the air despite yesterday’s bright blue sky. Leytonstone is cute and homey, with walking paths running between the houses and buildings and cats roaming the streets. There’s a large park a short walk from where I am staying with a duck pond and a temporary carnival set up. Yesterday we went to feed frozen peas to ducks, pigeons, and whoever else decided to show up.

Small town Carnival/Faire in Leytonstone. It’s giving Midsomer Murders vibes.

Lots of pigeons, geese, and some other funky looking friends showed up to enjoy their veggies.

This morning, we had a lazy start to the day to account for my jet lag – which hasn’t been too bad – and because in general I’m just not a morning person.

After lunch we headed to Brick Lane, a vintage clothing and market block in Shoreditch. As expected, the public transportation here is very effective and it was wonderful to not have to wait more than a few minutes for a train to arrive. Wandering through vintage clothing markets, exploring bookshops, and grabbing some coffee were a nice way to start off my stay in London.

Then we walked from Brick Lane to the Thames to see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Gotta get some touristy stuff in every now and then! We got to see the drawbridge on the Tower Bridge go up to let a tall ship through. A local told us that the bridge only opens about four times per week, so we were lucky to get to see it. London Bridge is comparatively nondescript and boring, but labeled in bold letters to make its name known to the world.

From there we walked along the Thames to St. Paul’s Cathedral to see it from the outside before heading back to Leytonstone on a different train line to a different nearby station than the two I had already experienced. Having options for how to get around on transit, is so nice.

Tower Bridge with a tall ship sailing through! Ignore the cranes in the background and it feels like it could be from a different time.

Proof that I was actually there, gotta get a touristy photo every now and then. I’m glad I threw in this jacket at the last minute, it was appreciated.

St. Paul’s Cathedral from up close. We might try to climb up to the top over the weekend.

I’ve noticed a few minor differences in how walking and pedestrians flow here that I find interesting. First, as is to be expected in the country where people drive on the left, they also walk on the left side of the sidewalk and on staircases. In the more touristy locations we went, the cross walks have “Look Right” and “Look Left” printed as you enter the street to remind people from the rest of the world (mostly) that things are different here and to prepare them for traffic to come from the opposite side they might expect it to. Despite this change, which I expected, but still find sort of funny, on escalators there are signs that say “Stand on the right” as one would in the US. I find this detail interesting and sort of funny in a way. Breaking my habit of walking on the right will be a struggle, but for now mostly people have been accommodating when I forget, so I will continue to try to be aware and hope I don’t offend anyone too much.

Cheers till later!

August 31, 2023