Lotsa walks on beautiful days!

Yes, I'm getting better about updating this more often.  Now, hopefully I can remember what I've done this past week... it's been a lot...

Friday, I spent the day down in Richmond, a part of the London borough Richmond-upon-Thames, which is the only London borough that actually straddles the Thames.  This was no random wandering.  I had to go down there to do research for a project for my writing class.  Quick rundown on the project: in groups, we had to choose a neighborhood around London to research.  Throughout the rest of the quarter, our writing assignments (an ethnography, a short story, and finally, some form of textual representation) will be about our neighborhood or a specific place within our neighborhood.  As our final project, we as a group will have to give the rest of the class a tour of our neighborhood, pointing out historical information and points of interest.  My group is researching Richmond, chosen by one of my group members, Mike, because his parents met while they were both studying abroad at the University of Richmond, so they had taken him there many times when he was younger.

Richmond really is a beautiful area, full of open, green spaces, and home to Richmond Park, the largest royal park in London at almost 2,500 acres!  Richmond Park is also home to many herds of deer, as this park was, historically, a royal hunting ground.  One man we talked to said the thing he liked best about living in Richmond was that he was so close to the city, but still felt like he was living out in the country.  Richmond, a fairly wealthy area, is also home to many famous people, such as Pete Townshent of The Who, as well as American model/actress Jerry Hall.

The River Thames flowing through Richmond.

View from the top of Richmond Hill.

Planning on trying to pay a visit to Richmond Park once before I head off for Spring Break.

Monday, we went on another walk with Prof. Mike.  Today's walk was through Hyde Park, to look at various statues and memorials.  Prof. Mike described Hyde Park as being a "dumping ground" for memorials, and it's true... they're everywhere.  Actually, they're everywhere in London, in general.  Londoners love a good statue.

We saw.....

• Wellington Arch... Duke of Wellington is a pretty major hero here, because he defeated the French in the Battle of Waterloo.
• Australian War Memorial... a tribute to Australian servicemen and women who fought for Britain in the two World Wars.
• New Zealand Memorial... a bunch of poles in the ground to commemorate the bonds between New Zealand and the UK
• London Bombings Memorial... a memorial to the 52 victims of the London Underground terrorist bombings in 2005.  It comprises 52 pillars, one for each victim, grouped together to reflect the four locations of the bombings.  Each pillar is inscribed with a place and time, and a plaque with the names of all the victims stands in the grass nearby.
• Queen Elizabeth Gates... put up in 1993 to honor the Queen Mother
• Achilles... a large statue of a naked man (except for the small leaf placed over a, um, certain part), meant as a tribute to the Duke of Wellington from the women of England
• Diana Memorial Fountain... a circular fountain in which children can run and play

Best part of the walk, though... Prof. Mike gave us a half hour break, during which we were able to get ice cream from an ice cream cart in the park, and then sit and relax by the Serpentine Lake. Ah, the simple joys in life...

Wednesday was another walk with Peter, to look at some of the churches in The City built by Christopher Wren, who was comissioned to rebuild many churches and buildings after London's Great Fire.  No Wren tour would be complete without starting at St. Paul's Cathedral. 

St. Paul's Cathedral... of course.

We got a guided tour of the cathedral and saw...

The Geometric Staircase! A scene in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was filmed on this staircase!

And then we climbed to the top of the dome...



View from the top on a beautiful London day.

We saw about 6 or 7 other Wren churches, but none nearly as impressive as St. Paul's.  Actually, the others were pretty ugly, in my opinion, hence why I have no pictures of them. :)

Well, that was Week 4 of the quarter.  Wow, can't believe it's already been that long.  Next week is Spring Break, and then just a few more weeks until the quarter is done!  Still so much I want to do while I'm here, and seemingly so little time!  Not ready to go home yet!

Next time I post, I'll have some lovely pictures of spring break in Barcelona! Fingers crossed that it stops raining before I get there....