This morning, I arrived at the Victoria Coach station at 7AM.  I slept surprisingly well during the 4 hour ferry ride and 8 hour bus ride (12 hours total) from Dublin.  I walked over to the Astor Victoria Hostel and immediately began to settle in.  Within a couple hours my laundry was done, I was showered, and ready to tour London.

After listening to a few recommendations, I booked the hop-on-hop-off tour of London which seemed like it would be a convenient way to see most of the attractions in the city in a short amount of time.  The tour was actually very slow,  boring, and unbearable.  Within 30 minutes, I was struggling to stay awake and itching to get out of the bus.  After a hour, I just left the bus at Tower of London, and just figured I would walk around on my own.  Earlier that morning, an American at the hostel suggested I divide the city up into a few parts and “tackle” each section by foot for one day.  This is the strategy I decided to follow and it worked out really well.

Between 12PM and 9PM, I probably walked around 20 miles following/wandering a general path from attraction to attraction:

• Tower of London
• London Bridge
• St Patrick’s Cathedral
• Boroughs Market
• Somerson House
• Covent Gardens
• SouthBank
• London Eye
• Big Ben and Parliament House
• Westminster Abbey
• Buckingham Palace
• St James Park
• Bond Street/Regent House
• Piccadilly Circus/London
• Shakespeare Park

 

London is a wonderful city to walk around. Why?

• • Density: Ideal amount of density (Primarily 3-5 story street retail and intricately-designed and built historical buildings which are overflowing with character.  (tower bridge, Tower of London, somerset house, st Patrick’s cathedral)
  • Entertaining Street Layout:  Not built on a block grid system.  Streets are diagonal, wavy, and thin which leads to many island and triangular lots and buildings (entertaining and interesting)
  • Public Places: Lots of monuments, statues, towers, parks, memorials throughout the city
  • Historic Buildings: Somerson House, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey
  • Natural Features: Riverwalks take full advantage of the river Thames
  • Beautiful Parks:  Not empty parks like Rancho Park, but strategically placed parks
  • Outdoor Events: Closing down Regent Street, Hyde Park, outdoor events on the River, etc.

 

 

 

 

One area that was especially interesting was Carnaby Street.  This area is a wonderfully designed pedestrian-only area, which is like an outdoor mall.  Carnaby Street isn’t just a shopping area/mall, but is also a convenient route for people walking through London.  The location and layout of the mall doesn’t inconvenience anyone who is trying to get from point A to point B in London.  They can just as easily and just as quickly walk through Carnaby Street to get to their destination than walk through any of the surrounding “normal” streets.  This is the future of shopping, malls, and retail.  They need to be more welcoming, more entertainment-oriented, and not out of anyone’s way. Without department stores to attract visitors, malls need to have much easier access, layout, and a much more entertaining environment to offer visitors.  

It’s important to be extremely careful when walking through London.  Jaywalking is common, and because cars drive on the opposite sides of the road as in the US, it’s very easy to get confused as to which direction you should be looking.  Before you know it, a bus comes turning toward you from a direction you weren’t expecting a car to come from.  Be careful…

One of the most special moments of the day was hanging out a Piccadilly Circus for a half an hour.  Piccadilly Circus is a non-operational fountain in the heart of London which is surrounded by a large courtyard.  People just sit on and around the fountain and enjoy the beautiful view, listen to live music (buskers), and enjoy the atmosphere.  It was really beautiful to sit there, chat with a South Korean solo traveler, relax, and enjoy the atmosphere.

After the long day, I head back to the hostel, showered, and slept a bit later.