Now while I like walking to new places for the fun that goes
with the exploring the unknown I find I still like having some sort of
destination in mind. I like trying to get somewhere even if the route is
somewhat of a mystery. So yesterday I began looking for places to go and my
initial instinct was to go to a nearby Burger King. Burger King has become a
favorite destination of mine not because of the food by any means but because
they are one of the few restaurants that give free refills on their drinks and
even better they have the machines out on the floor allowing you to serve
yourself as is so common in the States. Now the problem was that this Burger
King is a place I've walked to many times so there was no sense of exploration
that came with going there and it really isn't that far away from the house,
only about 2 miles (about a 30 minute walk). Now there is another Burger King
at the mall, which allows the same free refills so I decided that maybe I
should go there. I mapped it out and it is a 7 mile walk from the house, which
is about 2 to 2.5 hours depending on how fast you walk. Generally speaking I
can walk fairly quickly if I know where I am going but the first time I go
somewhere I tend to walk slower or if I’m just in no hurry, which I wasn't yesterday so I was pretty sure the walk would be closer to 2.5 hours than 2. Now
one of the big issues with long walks is that while it is fun to walk a long
way to get somewhere it often isn't as fun to walk back because you've seen all
there is to see but of course it takes just as long to get home unless you
cheat and jump on a bus. So before I even left I was already pondering whether
I would take the bus home or not.
As I begin to map out the walk and see the time that would
be spent getting there and back I decided to look and see how far Priya’s work
was and how long it would take me to get there. It’s located downtown and is
about 13 miles from the house so the mall was just about half way. Now the nice
thing about that walk would be I would get to meet up with Priya after work and
ride home with her on the train. Really I would walk the same amount of time to
get there as I would to get to the mall and walk home, around 4 to 4.5 hours
but this way I got to be with Priya. I mentioned it to her in an email and she
encouraged me to go for it so I did.
I left the house around 11.15am and head off towards
downtown. I got to the mall at about 1:30 and I didn't have any trouble finding
it. The path was a pretty straight one and a fairly nice one. I spent most of
my time next to a large road but it wasn't too busy and there were lots of
shops and parks to look at along the way. When I got to the mall I stopped and
rewarded myself with some Burger King because what better way to refresh
yourself and nourish your body after a long walk than give it fast food and
soda, right?
I sat around the mall for a while in part to rest but also
to make stay close to a restroom just in case. I've made the mistake of walking
somewhere, eating and then heading home quickly without thinking about whether
I would have access to a restroom or not. It’s not fun to walk when you need to
go to the bathroom because you quickly find that now at the time when you need
to move the fastest is the time when you actually have to move the slowest. Anyway I stuck around, relaxed awhile had a
few more drinks than I probably should have and then took off.
On the way from the mall to Priya’s office it was fun to see
how the surroundings changed as you got further and further into the city. The
housing became more elaborate and detailed and was clearly much older than the
other neighborhoods I had walked through. In a way it felt like walking back in
time when you just focused on the houses and that was cool.
I got to a large open space called Kensington Garden and Hyde Park,
which are connected in the middle by a large pond. The park was crowded with
people. I thought on a Thursday afternoon it would have been a little quieter
but maybe people here just have to get outside when the sun is actually out
since it often isn't The parks were quite nice. They were filled with
beautiful flowers, nice trees, various birds and all kinds of statutes
dedicated to numerous different people and/or events. From there I continued
into Green Park and St. James Park both of which are right next to Buckingham Palace. It was, of course, quite
crowded with tourists around the palace. As I continued I found myself in the
Horse Guards Parade and the Horse Guard Headquarters both of which were very interesting and fun to view and while I was there I
also got to see some of the Royal Guards on their horses. By the time you got
to the palace Big Ben was also visible in the distance.
At this point I was running out of time before I had to meet
Priya at her office so I took off and I ended up there about 10 minutes before
she got off work. So from the time I left the house at 11:15 am to the time I
was at her office, at 5:20 pm, was 6 full hours. Of course I could get there
much faster if I hadn't stopped for lunch or wandered through the parks and
done some sightseeing still it was a fair amount of time. Once Priya got off
work we did some walking around and a little shopping and then headed home. All
in all I walked around 15 miles in the day. By the time I got home my feet were
a little sore as was the calf of my right leg and the thigh of my left leg
though I’m not sure why there was that difference between the two legs.
Anyway it was a fun day and I took some pictures, which I've included here for people to look at. Now almost all the pictures are ones of
the parks or by the palace. There aren't any pictures of the trip to the mall
because there really wasn't much worth photographing. So that was my day, take
a look at the pictures and you can see a little of what I saw Thursday.
Kensington Garden and Hyde Park
Green Park
Buckingham
Palace
St.
James Park
Horse Guards Parade and Horse Guard Headquarters
Downtown London
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