Wandering London

Hi all,

Today I went wandering for 6-7 hours around London, and fitted in a heap! My hip was still sore but I refused to let it get in the way of anything. So I just wandered and wandered.

I firstly caught the bus to East Putney tube station, and then the district line to Tower Hill. This was a good way to get to where I needed to go because I could catch the tube 18 stops all on the same line and I got a seat. I needed to conserve the energy for the walk to come!

The aim of today’s wander wasn’t to go in to anything much, as I had visited all but two of the places I stopped at. It was more to reminisce and enjoy some old favourites. I started off walking past the Tower of London. The Superbloom display of flowers in the moat was pretty impressive, there was even a slide for people to enter the exhibition! I couldn’t get in to see it unless I had a ticket though. I then wandered towards and midway over Tower Bridge, before making my way to the ‘walkie talkie’ building, home to the Sky Garden. My top tip if you are visiting London is to book the Sky Garden. Tickets open three weeks in advance on a Monday and are free. You get sweeping views across the city but forego the price tag of the Eye and the Shard. There is also a cafe and a garden up top. I used to take anyone that visited me up here. Despite the morning cloud, visibility was great. I could see Wembley to the west and Greenwich to the east, as well as all the usual suspects along the Thames. I then wandered around the garden as well before heading back down. There was a huge queue when I left, whereas I had waltzed straight into the lift 30 minutes prior. Love it when that happens.

It was next that I went to the two places I hadn’t been to before - first, the gorgeous Leadenhall Market building, and second, St Dunstan in the East Church. A church was first built here during Saxon times, and then restored by St Dunstan in 950 AD, and later rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire in 1697. Today, a few walls and a tower remain, and are beautifully overgrown with trees and crawling plants. The church has been left this way with a garden done up on site since sustaining severe damage during the Blitz. It’s a really beautiful mid city oasis, I would’ve loved to sit for a while if I had more time.

I then returned to Borough Market and enjoyed some paella and a juice, and took away some fudge to enjoy later. Next I walked along the Thames for quite a while, seeing the Millenium Bridge and St Paul’s, Shakespeare’s globe and many school groups out on excursions in their final weeks of school before the summer break. I sat and ate my fudge.

Being by myself today I had a lot of time to think and reminisce. I could see myself and Mum in so many places remembering memories of previous visits as I walked along. On days that I would feel pangs of homesickness in 2015, if the weather was nice I would go out and walk after work on a similar route to what I did today, and enjoy a frozen yoghurt in the double decker bus along Southbank. I would try and ground myself as to where I was and remind myself of all the amazing things around me that year. It would work because I would then also remind myself that before I knew it I would be back in Melbourne missing London’s excitement and easy access to Europe. Here I am seven years later and as much as I like Melbourne (love is a strong word since all the lockdowns, I hope the love comes back) and love my family, friends and the football, I do really miss everything you can do so easily over here.

I eventually made it to Southbank and the Eye, and then the Houses of Parliament. The Elizabeth Tower that houses Big Ben looks fantastic since its restoration. It was restored from 2016-2021, so it was really nice of them to start right after I left and finish before I returned - haha. Seriously though, they’ve done a wonderful job. The whole thing looks really bright and refreshed, and apparently the mechanisms will now work long term as a result. I enjoyed hearing an English Dad talking to his daughter here while I stopped and looked. “Millie, do you know how lucky you are to be staring at this? People all over the world dream of coming here, and here we are just looking at it together.” Then he got her to recite some names of attractions around us, it was very cute.

Walking past, I then came across a protest about Boris Johnson. The protestors were singing “bye bye Boris” and about Brexit to the tune of ‘Bye Bye Baby’ by the Bay City Rollers. I continued past and took in the view of Westminster Abbey.

My next stop was Buckingham Palace. There seems to be an exhibition starting soon about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee that I’m sorry to miss, but you can’t see it all. I sat on the steps of the Queen Victoria statue here for a while and took in the palace, remembering how much I had enjoyed watching the Jubilee concert on TV a few weeks ago.

I continued on, walking down the Mall to Marble Arch, noticing all the people sunbathing in St James’ Park, and ended up in Trafalgar Square. I made a quick stop at the National Gallery to see two more Van Gogh pieces I really like (in particular the sunflowers!) and then wandered Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Covent Garden. I then reached the British Museum, which the older I get the more I understand is basically a collection of a lot of artefacts the Brits stole. Regardless, I wanted to go and see what Egyptian displays they had seeing as I’ve now visited Egypt since last coming here. There were lots of statues, images and mummies - and lots of people! I was getting pretty tired by this point and the crowds made it worse, so I just looked around quickly, noting that some of the objects had come from places I had been to in Egypt. I also saw two ladies dusting and restoring a sarcophagus.

Finally, I ended up at Primark in Oxford Street as I wanted a couple more basic tops. Then I caught the tube to Waterloo and the national rail to Barnes.

Tonight I’m having a night in with Alisha which we pre planned when I arrived. PJs, TV and dinner!

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox