Londonwalks

The one city i always wanted to visit is London , having seen it too many times in cliched bollywood movies its beauty has already caught my attention. More than two centuries of world history has its origins at london , I have never scored well in history during my school days .. its never thought as a story, but recently i have had developed an interest in city , graduation course from tourist to traveler demands this chapter and london does take some footage in this .

                              Fortunately my new company provided me with this opportunity ,after signing a bond believes that i will be serving my company faithfully for one complete year my london visit was finalized. I was visiting on a business visa thought which meant i will be there for short duration and will be working for 8 hrs but visit nonetheless.

                                 I has started planning for the london even before i started planning for my project assignments. First mode of transport which comes to mind for london visit is red colored open top buses ( Refer bollywood movies) but this option never excited me much , Typical tourist option or if you are on time crunch but i had one month. I decide to hire a bicycle initially but on studying maps i decided to explore london on my feet, staying in paddington in central london made my choice bit more easy.

                                   So here are the details of my london walks,

Paddington,Hyde Park,Green Park , Buckingham Palace

It was my first day in london and i was super excited to be here , had a glimpse of hyde park while coming from airport and had decided to pay visit in the evening.

Started from the bayswater road gate of hyde park , first thing which caughts your attention is a small and pretty gardeners cottage ... gardener 'must be rich i thought and walked passed it ,took a left from there and had a huge hyde park in sight with no end visible, a cycler rushed passed me quickly took my camera out to click him and few more cyclers passed ...cycling is pretty obvious here. Hyde park was buzzing with activity sports , ruuners taking long sprints , dog walkers ,lovers and lot more had graced the park with their presence ..huge trees caught my attention ..captured

Took the pathway in hyde park , walk for some time through green grass and tall trees took me to the end of hyde park . Took a left turn towards kensinghton road and reached green park..huge trees , ducks and flowers , walk for few more minutes and i was in front of buckingham palace , tulips garden on both sides , Elizabeth memorial in center and palace in front.

Suddenly few policeman came riding on their BMW super bikes and stood in formation , crowed gathered in anticipation ... few minutes later convoy of cars came out and disappeared in no time ... bikes followed the cars ...prince charles , someone exclaimed.

Elizabeth Memorial in from of Buckingham Palace

took a right from palace towards victoria and decided to check out palace museum . All information related to palace , royal guards and everything royal was at display , museum is not super exciting but worth watching.

Sherlok Holmes Museum , Lords , Regent Park

 First weekend in london and being cricket lover decided to visit lords , came to know about sherlok holmes museum on baker street , even though i have read numerous sherlok holmes stories 212, bakers street is not something i remembered.

Walked upto baker street crossing well maintained Westminster city council hall before reaching sherlok holmes museum. Sherlok holmes fans has already queued in and waiting for their turn , a policeman dressed in old police uniform was guarding the entrance. 5 pounds ticket and few minutes later i entered small house with cossy rooms .everything about sherlok holmes , scenes from famous stories were depected using statues but small house was way to crowded , decided to start from end to avoid the crowed and it payed of , Most of the crowed was really not aware of sherlok and just wanted to visit the attraction and click photographs with dead body props and hound of bakervilles prop. Starting from end avoided being with them.

After completing the walk went to museums souvenir store , staff was all dressed in maids dresses just like in old days.  

Continued the walk towards Lords and few minutes walk crossing St Woods Gardens , Prince Albert square and  The Lords.

Guided tour mostly contained Indians , we were not allowed to take photographs in players room and MCC stands but was allowed near stadium and famous media center. All the facts and history was well explained by the tour guide and being at home of cricket was overwhelming experience.

View from Lords Media Center

Sunset was round the corner , rushed to regents park before clicking few tulips at St Woods park. Regents park is not as huge as hyde park but certainly is more beautiful .Witnessed beautiful sunset and took a walk back home via bakers street and landmark hotel.

Landmark Hotel, Bakers Street

Wesminster City Council 

Sunset at regents park

Kensinghton Gardens , Princess Diana Memorial Walk , Natural History Museum , Science Museum

Took the same bayswater gate of hyde park but turned right this time , waking along the long waters of the hyde park. This beautiful walkway is called princess Diana memorial walk , make a exit at keningthon street and walk straight to reach science museum. Loads of information well displayed in science museum.

Took this walk again on the other day to visit natural history museum, 4 floors of history from prehistoric era to present day but the most beautiful part is the sensational butterflies galley . A green house set up in the museums gardens to maintain proper temperature and humidity and hundreds of live butterflies flying around.

wear flower prints or bright colored clothes to attract butterflies towards you , i wasnt wearing them but i was extremely happy capturing them from such a close distance.  

Picadilly Circus , churchill war rooms , Westminster Abbey 

Took a tube to picadilly circus . Picaddily circus is one of the most happening areas in london with many bars , musical theaters,shopping complexes , this area certainly is the heart of the london. waled upto churchill war rooms via st James park capturing ducks , birds and tulips.

Churchill war rooms is a converted war time bunkers where churchill and his team was staying for 5 years , museum is a must watch , sound effects have been created to give feel of war time london with fighter planes buzzing around , bombs dropping around . 

Take a left from war rooms and famous big ben is visible cross the bridge to have a better view of abbey. One can also take a boat ride from here to london bridge and abbey. London eye is for arial view of london but long queues changed my decision. Went back to the St James park to spend some time with the nature.

Picadilly Circus

St Pauls church , Blackfairs , London Bridge

Covered these in two seperate walks , one starting from paddington to st pauls church via temple and river side walk through blackfairs.

In the next walk , my last in london , took a tube to london bridge and a long walk on the banks of themes followed.

Few others :- Holland Park , Woburn Safari etc

Free tai chi classes in regents park :)

Kensinghton Station