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.