And the winner is!

Okay. Finished with the walks and, after contemplating all my different experiences, I've come up with my top three!!

First would definitely have to be Regent's Park. As I remember it, this day was one of the first warmer days and was the perfect situation to walk through such a pretty park. This was also one of the more fun walks because I was tired and kept complaining and they forever tease me about it to this day. It was a peaceful atmosphere walking through the parks and away from the city life. Definitely worth a trip if I ever come back to London.

After Regent's Park I'd have to say Soho to Trafalgar Square. I would recommend this walk to anyone that was planning on coming to London. It's a great way to see many London sites including Chinatown and, my favourite, Trafalar Square. I remember having such a good time on this walk and there's tons of cute restaurants and shopping places that I want to go back there! Definitely a good way to experience London.

For my third favourite, it's only appropriate that I picked Westboune Park to Notting Hill. I really loved this walk even for being one of my last ones. We went kind of quickly but I still loved getting a feel for where I was living. I have loved my time here at Palace Court and Notting Hill and this just made me love it more. It made me even more sad to leave, seeing Portabello Market and then eventually winding up on familiar streets. It's such a cool feeling knowing your way around a city that you've never been to before.

Living here has opened my eyes to life and I've loved every minute of it. And of these walks. I probably wouldn't know London half as well as I do if I hadn't done these walks. It helped me see London the way a true Londoner might and helped me see all different sides of this wonderful city! I'll miss it with all my heart :)

2. Westminster to St. James

30 March 2011: My last walk. I was so excited and ready to be done that nothing could bring me down! Except for the weather. The stupid weather suddenly decided to be dreadful on the one day that I had to do my last walk. Grrr. It was wet and windy and not what I wanted. But, I forged through. We were determined. Me, Emily, Brittani, Liz, and Michelle all headed out to complete it. Luckily, I had already seen most of the sites that are along the walk on good, sunny, warm days so I wasn't too upset. This time around, it was interesting to have the book as commentary on the statues and what everything really was. It was also an experience to see all the tourists crowding everywhere! It's like they're taking over the city!! I think the one thing I liked was seeing the Horse Guards Parade (because we turned on an earlier street) because as soon as we walked up to it, all the guards on their horses were getting ready to march out and head over to Buckingham Palace, so that was a neat thing.

So, I guess, for my last walk, it wasn't awful and it was a completely satisfying feeling. I can't believe how quickly everything has happened and that we're going home so soon. I'm going to miss wandering the city (and sometimes getting lost) and experiencing the London life everyday.

4. The City (East)

28 March 2011: Did this walk with Sharon! Because we were the only ones who still had to do it haha! But it was a nice change of pace, again. We did the walk super fast and I figured out that the trick to these walks is to have two people have a Walks Book and one people read the directions and extra stories and one person look just at the map! It's brilliant! Too bad I'm finding this out now, when I only have one walk left.. But, all went well on the walk. We didn't get lost at all, and like I said, we did it in no time at all! I loved being in the part of the city where all the businessmen are because it just felt like a different world. Everything was higher class and just a nice atmosphere. There were moments I felt a little out of place but I still enjoyed it. I also loved all the cool architecture there was and what contrasts we noticed. There would be really cool, old looking church buildings right next to an O2 store - very modern in comparison. So that was neat to see how London maintains their history! Overall, a really cool walk.




1. Westbourne Park Station to Notting Hill

26 March 2011: Me and Emily ventured out today to complete a walk. This one seemed to be the only one we had in common. So, we went to Westbourne Park Station and began our walk. I was leading because I had the book and, suprisingly, didn't get us lost AT ALL! And we did it super fast. In less than two hours even though it's supposed to take like two and a half hours. We even stopped and shopped in Portabello Market and got some super cute stuff!! Overall, it was a great walk. Super easy and fun to be with just Emily. We had a blast and I love that it ended right at our house pretty much. I also love that it's almost spring and the flowers are blooming and everything's gorgeous! It was a great day :)

The prettiest houses :)

11. Kew to Hammersmith

As you can see, Emily is awesome a talking pictures!

19 March 2011: Emily Layton, Brittani Coats, and I did this walk together and had a fun but interesting time. We started off the walk pretty on track and even found a cute bookshop at the beginning of the walk! Then, somehow, somewhere, I think we began to lose interest an didn't seem to think to look at the map and just kept walking along the Thames Path. Then, we had a bathroom emergency and finding a bathroom became our first priority. Unfortunately we were way of track and there wasn't a bathroom for miles. So, tired, hungry, and desperate for a bathroom, the situation just started getting more and more ridiculous with every wrong turn. Finally we found the sign to Hammersmith Bridge and realized we were close to the end! So we found a bathroom in the tube station and all was well again. Consequently, I can't remember much of what I saw on the walk except the river Thames and all the boats for the rowing races coming up! That was a neat experience because there were so many prepping to race. The walk was also a beautiful walk and I enjoyed being more in the country where people live and not so much in the city. Even if that may not be where we were supposed to go :)

8. Lambeth and South Bank

19 February 2011: Did this walk with Natalie and Amanda and, unfortunately, I think we were lost and/or backwards the whole time. We finally found our way once we got onto Lanbeth Street but before that, it was looking a little worrisome. It was rainy this day and cold but I enjoyed walking along the Thames and seeing how busy it was by the London Eye. There were street performers and facepainting like some sort of carnival was going on. Then, at the end of the walk, we ended up on The Strand and decided to find the Twinings original tea shop. We asked some people for directions and they sent us the wrong way! But Amanda was determined so we asked like 3 more people and finally ended up in the right place. The shop was smaller than I expected but it smelled DIVINE! Such a cool place :) So, this walk ended up pretty great and I had a fun time with a different crowd. It was a nice change of pace.

12. Regent's Park

Such a beautiful day!

8 February 2011: this walk I did with Emily Layton, Brittani, Shelbi, and Jaynann. This was by far the prettiest walk I've been on! Regent's Park and the zoo is such a gorgeous area! Everything was so green and it was a cloudless day so it was perfect! We were a little rushed in order to get back in time for class but still thoroughly enjoyed it! I love when we walked up that hill in Primrose park and it was warm and sunny and you could see London for miles and everything was beautiful! I can't imagine what it's going to be like once spring rolls around! I also loved going by all the ponds and fountains. Everything was so peaceful; I could sit and read there for hours. I also got excited about the London Zoo. I still haven't gone but it's on my list and I need to do that soon! Overall, I really loved this walk, I just wish we could have had more time on it and not been so rushed.