Detroit to Dover - Experiences of an open water swimmer
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London on Foot (Parks, Buckingham Palace, National Gallery, Westminster, Big Ben, Piccadelly Circus

8/28/2011

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Sunday- We walked to Paddington Station to see how the walk would be when we fly out on Wednesday, if we opt to take the Express Train to Heathrow. We ended up buying a Bagel Factory sandwich and coffee and saw the Paddington Bear statue. From there, we walked to Hyde Park and cut through the middle and south of The Serpentine Lake. We saw the bronze Peter Pan statue sculpted in 1912, the Princess Diana Memorial (contemporary granite fountain, across the Serpentine from the Boat House), the Rose Garden, and a lot of "stay out of the water due to algae" signs. Yet, there were still a few swimmers in The Serpentine in the swimmers section, which was roped off for laps. Next, we walked from Hyde Park to St James' Park. and Lake. We observed various types of ducks and wildlife. A giant building caught our eye, from there, so we walked over to see what it was. It was the Cavalry Guard. We took photos by one of the horses. We walked to Buckingham Palace and were hoping to witness the pageantry of the Changing of the Guard, a London tradition, that was sure attracting hopefulls like us. We finally saw a sign that said "No Changing today" so we left and walked to the National Gallery. We grabbed sandwiches and water and sat next to the fountain in front of the Gallery for lunch. The Gallery is the revered museum that dominates Trafalgar Square. The National is now home to some 2,000 works representing the world's major artistic periods from 1250 to 1900. The museum is free but they do ask for donations to keep it free. We paid respects to Michelangelo, da Vinci, van Gogh, Monet and Seurat.

Westminster Abbey was only a mile or two from there, so we walked there next. We stopped for pictures at Big Ben (the bell in the famous clock's chime)/Parliament. Westminster was closed for tours, being Sunday, so we took photos in front and walked around the gift shop. Then, we walked northwest towards Piccadelly Circus and Regent Street, for a few hours of shopping. From there, we had a 1.5 hr walk home. We refueled and rested our aching feet at an Italian eatery near our hotel in Paddington, called "Bizzarro." We clocked 9.5 hours of walking. We figured we'd take our GPS watch with us tomor to clock the distance we were walking.
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