Day 11: London Gardens and Pubs

Today I decided to do a little exploration around London.  Shaz and Ken were back at work, and Michelle wanted to have a quiet day.  I had a rough idea where I wanted to go, including visiting a few of the London parks so off I headed.
Today was a tube strike so I decided to bus it to Waterloo.  Now buses aren’t the quickest way around London at the best of times, and during peak hour when there are no tubes running they pretty much were hardly moving.  So I got off at London Bridge and decided to walk it.
Since I’d walked the south side of the river before, I crossed over and walked along the north bank.  It was an enjoyable if uneventful stroll: passing morning joggers, like-minded tourists and families, and suited workers grabbing their morning coffees.

I came across the Queenhithe, once a Saxon village and medieval dock, and in 886 the first harbour in London due to its position providing protection from Viking Raids.  Now it is the only remaining inlet on the Thames.  Probably a good mud larking spot too.
On past Cleopatra’s needle, which I thought the Poms pinched from the Egyptians.  On reading I found otherwise, that it was offered as a gift in recognition of Lord Nelson’s battles.  But the English government wouldn’t fund its relocation back to England.

Some 75 years later, the obelisk was dug from the sands with the sponsorship of a dermatologist, and encased in an iron cylinder and shipped to London.  A voyage that was met with misfortune when storms hit, crew killed and the ship with needle abandoned and presumed sunk.
The Spanish later found the abandoned ship, and it was eventually towed to London and placed here, flanked by faux sphinxes that now wear fragmentation wounds from WWI German bombing raids.
I continued up river to Westminster Bridge and joined the throngs at Big Ben again.  I was planning on visiting Westminster Cathedral, but the price and the crowds lead me on further.
I headed towards St. James Park, the first park on my list.  Winston Churchill’s War Rooms tempted me slightly, but I was strong and crossed the road into the gardens.

An unkindness of ravens were mingling on the lake shore while a bank of swans sat on the bank.  
I continued through the park to Buckingham Palace.  Pretty sure the queen wasn’t in today, but quite a few people were peering through the gates regardless, hopeful for a gloved royal wave.

I waited and waited to get an unobstructed photo of the Victoria Memorial.  There was virtually nobody around it except for this one guy that was standing right at its base, having some involved conversation on his mobile.  In the end I thought bugger it, you can be part of the picture.

We are not amused…

OK, with Buckingham Palace done I was onto my next park.  A quick shortcut through Green Park and its tree lined paths, then through the Wellington Arch and I was in Hyde Park.
Hyde Park was beautiful.  Full of squirrels, magpies harassing pigeons, flowered gardens, wide green grassy areas, and statues and monuments.

I sat at a café along The Serpentine, and after managing to save my scone from some pigeons, I almost lost it to two starlings that flew hummingbird style right in my face with some serious co-ordinated and concerted distraction thing going on, working in pairs.

I continued along The Serpentine, stopping for some contemplation at the Princess Diana Memorial and up along the Long Water to the Italian Gardens.  I basically spent the whole afternoon strolling through King Henry the VIII’s deer hunting grounds.

Next stop was Baker’s Street.  I wanted to catch a shot of the Sherlock Holmes Statue.  I walked up Baker Street, but couldn’t see it, so then visited Regent’s Park.  This was probably the most beautiful gardens I had visited today.

I went walking down Baker Street again in case I missed the statue, and up again to be sure.  A quick googling found that it wasn’t on Baker Street at all, but rather Marylebone. D‘oh.

It was getting late now; I'd walked some 20km and had another 2 hours walking to get home so I decided to bus it instead.

I missed the crowds lining the red carpet at Topshot, hoping to see Kate Moss; watched many people try to get onto the now full bus at each stop only being told no room, and ended up in Elephant and Castle.

You see without the tubes, I was not so adept at getting around London.  But I’d seen buses to Elephant and Castle from Bermondsey, so I knew I could connect up and get home that way.

However when I got to Elephant and Castle, I couldn't get onto the #47 bus as they were all full. So I decided to tube it (they were running on the Jubilee line), however finding the tube entrance proved elusive.  There was this maze of underground passages beneath the road, and no matter which way I followed the signs on the walls, I ended up somewhere else I didn't want to be.  I eventually gave up, made my way to the street, and grabbed a cab just in time to meet Ken for the Hidden London Pub walking tour.  Because I hadn’t walked enough already today!

We didn’t quite make it to the Hidden Pub Tour in time, even though the cab driver knew all the best back streets, but we caught up with the tour group just down the road a little, phew!

The Hidden Pub Tour was great, and the guide was literally overflowing with history.  He took us through Temple and some of the history of the Knights Templar.

We visited a few pubs, had a few half’s and heard many stories:

Such as the Queen needing to stop at the griffin and seek permission from the mayor of London before she can enter the city, even still to this day.

Or the tunnels beneath the Old Bank of England Pub between Mrs Lovett’s Pie shop and Sweeney Todd’s Barber shop.  The Old Bank pub had a special on pie and ale going as well tonight.

We passed Dr Johnson’s house with a statue of his cat Hodges, a very fine cat indeed, before finishing up at the Cheshire Cheese pub.

Dinner and a pint was had in the deep labyrinth of a cellar, and on leaving and climbing into the cab, I realised I’d left my backpack and camera down stairs in the pub.

A quick dash back down found the backpack right where I’d left it.  The cab driver quipped that if I was in Elephant and Castle, they’d have ripped the back-pack right off my back!

My walk

More pics of the day.