Walking Around London

Today I was on my own. So what did I do? I basically went all over the northern part of the city to find houses that belonged to famous writers and poets. I started off with the local area.

Just around the corner there is the apartment building where T.S. Eliot lived and died. His widow still lives in the apartment. When I first arrived in London, on my Kensington walking tour, the tour guide told us that one time the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate, however the Mrs. Eliot didn't come out. Everyone started to get worried, but then she suddenly comes out with an armful of papers that must have belonged to her husband. But what type of papers were they? Were they an unseen manuscrpt of some sort? Who knows.

In the opposite direction there is the street De Vere Gardens. Here is the house that the poet Robert Browning lived and died in.

From this place I walked up to and along High Street Kensington and then up towards Notting Hill. On Sheffield Terrace, which is off of Campden Hill Road, there is the house that Agatha Christie once lived. I couldn't really read the blue plague with her name on it because the house was behind a wall and cause I think my eye sight is changing.

I walked further up the road to the Notting Hill Tube station. I took the Tube to Baker street. However on the way there, at the Edgware Road station, we had to leave one train and go to another one because there was something either wrong with the train itself or the tracks. I could barely understand what the man was saying on the P.A. system, so I just followed the other people to the other train. However, from there we didn't leave the station either. Thankfully it turns out that I had to actually find another train that was heading the direction that I wanted. Even though I was finally on the right train I still had to wait almost ten minutes before it actually started moving. Blah.

Finally at Baker Street I walked down to Gloucester Place where Elizabeth Barret Browning lived, and then I walked all the way to Wimpole Street where she also lived. On Upper Wimpole Street I saw the house where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle loved and wrote his famous mysteries.

I then took the Tube to the Russel Street stop and walked to see the Dickens' House Museum. I then took the Tube to Moorgate. On this road is the building were John Keats was born. I thought I had found the building, however it turns out that I didn't. I think I passed by the pub that that now stands on the site and didn't even realized it. I'm really disappointed. I'll have to go back sometime and really search for it.

Since I was in the area I went back to some of the sites that I had seen while on my Jack the Ripper walking tour. I really didn't have a lot of time during the tour to see everything. I'm surprised that I remembered exactly where things were. After that I had lost all of my energy. I walked to the Liverpool station where I broke down and bought a rasberry frapaccino from Starbucks and took the Tube back to Kensington.

I took a cold shower to wash off all of the grime that I picked up as I ventured around the city and then took a nap. For dinner I broke down yet again and had an Ameican style dinner - McDonald's. Since I had a chocolate muffin for lunch with a orange soda and the rasberry frap, I decided to stuff myself full with chicken nuggents and fries. I rarely eat at McDonald's but I certainly loved it tonight.

I'm actually getting homesick for good food. Food in London is actually sort of bland. The only thing that was really savory was the West Cornwall pasty, but that's it. I miss my Tex-Mex, the sugar free ice tea, grape soda (yes! I admit I love grape soda!), chinese food, and of course my mom's cooking. But when July 22nd comes around I'll get all of this back.