French Visits and Footing London

Again a bit delayed, but back in mid July we had a visit from Celi, coming over from Paris on the Eurostar (makes a change to all those that take the plane). Personally I think she was trying to escape Bastille Day, although with the amount of tourists in Oxford and London at this time, I wouldn't count it as much of an escape...

Apart from coming over for the organised Harry Potter Tour of Oxford (coinciding with the release of the final film), she also wanted to take on the services of yours truly as tour guide for London.

Ever up for a challenge, I prepared a tour to cover all sorts of interesting sights tailored to her preferences. Usually I make sure quite a bit of walking is involved in my tours, allowing participants to actually see quite a lot of London that they would normally have missed. It also means they get tired a couple of hours before time to come back to Oxford, allowing me to 'reluctantly' suggest stopping off at a nearby pub.

We started off at Paddington, taking the bus across to Camden Market, walking around the stalls and stables for a while, and sitting down on a scooter to eat our lunch. Then took the tube down to Green Park, where we walked down through the park to Buckingham Palace. From here we walked along the lake until we came down to Westminster. Passing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament we went over Westminster Bridge (taking photos looking back across the River Thames at parliament).

From here we walked along the river (to the left of the bridge when you arrive on the south side) until we got to the Tate Modern. We used their facilities (very clean, by the way) and viewed some of the unusual art and photos on show, as well as the building itself (old power station).

After the cultural part, we walked further eastwards until we got to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, where unfortunately there were no tickets left for todays shows, nor were they doing tours, as a show was currently in progress (tip: get there in the morning to get on a tour).

Walking back the way we had come, we took the millennium bridge linking the Tate Modern to the original Tate Gallery (upon being built, it swayed so much that people got sick, and so it had to be rebuilt to reinforce the stability of it).

Arriving at the other bank of the Thames you have in front of you St Paul's Cathedral. Upon entering we caught part of a sermon which actually mentioned Harry Potter in it (a bonus for Celi!). We then made our way towards Holborn, walking along the roads and observing the buildings around us.

At this point, Celi had not complained at all about having walked too far, or being tired, so for the first time ever, I had to propose having a rest at a local pub outside of Paddington station! Is this a sign that I'm getting weak? Or maybe that she does enough walking around the streets of Paris, to rival my tours? I'll let you decide that one.

Of course, the other days she was here, we also went around Oxford, visiting some colleges, St Mary's Tower, and some of the local pubs.

Hopefully she'll remember the visit favourably (as we did) and come again soon...

(See all the photos here)