My Adventures 2: London Walk 22-Nov-12

I left home to walk a few hours up town to do a recce for a walk I have planned for a walking forum on December the 15th. After leaving Westminster Station I saw the familiar sights of Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament.

I walk across Westminster bridge to The South Bank.

I walk down past The London Eye and on towards the South Bank Christmas Market.

I walk further along the South Bank past The OXO Tower and Gabriels Wharf and its This Morning studio,where they were preparing another outdoor shoot.

I now reach the Millennium Bridge and cross back over and up to St Pauls Cathedral.the London Millennium Footbridge, is a steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the River Thames in London, England, linking Bankside with the City. It is located between Southwark Bridge (downstream) and Blackfriars Railway Bridge (upstream). The bridge is owned and maintained by the Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the City of London Corporation. Construction of the bridge began in 1998, with the opening on 10 June 2000.

I now walk along Fleet Street.Fleet Street is a street in the City of London named after the River Fleet, London's largest underground river. It was the origin and home of the British newspapers until the 1980s. Even though the last major British news office, Reuters, left in 2005, the term Fleet Street continues to be used as a metonym for the British national press.

I now walk along The Strand towards Trafalgar Square.

I now leave the City Of London........

I pass the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand.

In 1868 it was finally decided that George Edmund Street, R.A. was to be appointed the sole architect for the Royal Courts of Justice and it was he who designed the whole building from foundation to varied carvings and spires. Building was started in 1873 by Messrs. Bull & Sons of Southampton.

I now reach The Aldwych, The name, "Aldwych", derives from the Old English eald and wic meaning 'old trading town' or 'old marketplace'; the name was later applied to the street and district.
In the middle is St Clements Danes Church. The bells were tolling 'Oranges and Lemons' as I passed.The church is sometimes claimed to be the one featured in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons and the bells do indeed play that tune.
The current building was completed in 1682 by Sir Christopher Wren and it now functions as the central church of the Royal Air Force.

I now walk along The Strand to Somerset House where there is the yearly skating rink.

Back out on The Strand I pass the World famous Savoy Hotel.

I now reach Trafalgar Square.The name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars over France. The original name was to have been "King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square"

I now walk to Haymarket and then onto Jermyn Street and have a look around the Royal Opera Arcade.

then onto Regent Street and walk up to Piccadilly Circus.This was the first variation of my planned route.

Now I'm upon Piccadilly Circus I choose to walk along Piccadilly rather than take Regent St,Bond St and Oxford Street as per planned.

As I wander along Piccadilly I come across another Christmas market called Piccadilly Market at St James Church.St James’s Church, Piccadilly is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, UK. It was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren.