Neighborhood Walk

When I heard we were going on a neighborhood walk with a neighbor who has lived in the house to our left since the ‘70s I thought “how nice, a leisurely stroll around the surrounding blocks of the neighborhood, we will learn the best places to take our cleaning, get a cheap dinner, maybe some back roads to the tube.” I was wrong. Although spectacular and amazingly informative, the walk began at 9:30 AM and we reached our end point… not our home… at 1:00 PM. We only went 1.9 miles; however, this seemed to be done in concentric circles. I had to stop literally moments before we were done. We have been walking since we got here and I just reached my limit. I now have shin splints. This officially ends the complaining section of this entry. On to what we learned:

The first stop on our tour was just across the street. There is a government subsidized Holiday Inn which took out about a full two blocks of homes and can be seen from the entire neighborhood. We learned how to be good British citizens abhorring capitalist driven expansion and how to literally shake our fists at the monstrosity. Before construction Holiday Inn promised to compensate the neighborhood with equal gardens to the Ashburn Gardens they removed through construction. This was not done and all of the grounds were gated off. We were instructed to deter family and friends from staying there and shake our fists from wherever we could see the building for the rest of the walk. We also saw the homes of John Lennon, T.S. Elliott (whose last wife is in her 90s and still resides there, John Stewart Mills, Charles Booth (the brother of William Booth who started Salvation Army), Lakshmi Mittal who lives across the street from the Kensington Palace on the same street as the Russian, Israeli, Romanian and Finland embassies. We learned how to detect the more wealthy homes by the fact that you only see one doorbell. We also found the nearest public gardens where you could sit and read as well as a rooftop garden you can visit when there aren’t events going on and a restaurant above the gardens with a patio area that overlooks the city which is a very rare opportunity. We toured several chapels in the area and there was one, St. Mary Abbot constructed in the 1600s with stone vaulting. The highest level of vaulting was lost in the bombing and had to be reconstructed with cheaper material but you still get a sense of the beauty. It has the tallest spire in London and is the church Princess Dianna attended.

After the walk we Trey and I stumbled to the nearest restaurant that caught our eye (called “Giraffe”) and spent way too much money on lunch. The English gave a good go at some Tex-Mex inspired meals. Trey had Quesadillas (they do not pronounce the y sound much like the South we just left) containing goat cheese, spinach and mushrooms while I had spicy grilled turkey enchiladas with corn and black beans. They were spot on with a brownie and ice cream for dessert. We will go back for dessert but it was £24.00 (about $40.00) for lunch so we won’t be eating there often. We caught the bus back to our street and a nice local taught us how to identify your stop and alert the driver you wanted to get off. It was my first ride on a big red Double Decker Bus. It dropped us right near the tube stop we had been using to travel from and we raced home because we were sending the students on a scavenger hunt while we had a meeting with Kathy and our professor for the semester.

We had rest time after that and rest we did. Trey and I both fell asleep which is why I am now blogging at 12:30 in the morning. When I got up I checked my email and found that the hospital I am zoned to had emailed to let me know that “the midwives” would be coming to my house for my appointment the next morning at 9:30 AM which will be good because the students will be gone for the day. The school gave us all something called “The London Pass.” You can buy a 1, 2 or 3 day pass which allows you into a ton of major sites. The one day pass is about £40.00 BUT if you just go to the Tower of London it can cost up to £27.00 alone and only takes two hours of your day so you get your monies worth. If you are coming to visit, I can help arrange one for you and give you suggestions on how to use it if you are interested. It also lets you line jump which I know is terrible but it is terribly awesome when you only have one day. You can find discounts on lots of popular restaurants as well. We also learned about a great guide called “London for Free” so let me know if you are coming on a strict budget and I will get you a copy. It really made a difference today just to walk around with a local and hear the history. Everywhere you go is so rich in it.

In the evening we met with the students and got their results for the scavenger hunt. They were competitive but had a great time with it. We also learned where you could get tea and scones for £5 per person (which is great compared to high tea at Harrods which is £28 per person. The students also got to meet a graduate who had stayed at the house a year ago. She is now living in London under some sort of work program. Trey and I had missed dinner so we walked to our nearest grocery that was still open, Sainsbury’s, and got dinner for a much more reasonable price than lunch. We bought a frozen pizza for £2. It was delicious and much more economical than our pricey lunch. Now we are unpacking -- and by “we” I mean I am pointing out where I want my things to go while Trey unpacks… I am one lucky woman.