Before I continue I thought I would define what I count as being 'done'. There are several things in the book that I have ‘done’ but I dont feel like I have done well enough. For example there is St James’s Park (#1) - well I’ve been there but I haven’t picniced or been there lately so I figure I might as well wait and do it properly. One I know I have definately done is ‘Have a pint’(#44) but since it wasn’t in any of the pubs they recommended it is yet to get a tick too!
After the Proms, Shea ended up sleeping over for a movie night and we decided we would try our best at getting a whole chunk of things done over the weekend since neither of us had many plans or much money. The next morning my housemate suggested a trip to the Borough Markets (#5 - TICK). As my avid readers would know I have done this before, but since it was Shea and our friend Megans first time I was definitely keen to go. I mean you never need to ask me twice to go to a fresh food market with free samples!
The best part about the day was we ended up getting off at Waterloo and strolling along the Thames Path (#26 TICK!). I’m not sure if I can technically tick this one off as the Thames Path is looooooooooong. But we definately saw a fair chunk of it walking from Waterloo to Borough so I might just pop it in for now. I plan on doing some of it by bike (I am in the process of buying one at the moment so expect lots of cycling blogs in the future) and some of it by boat so i’ll keep you posted on this little adventure.
While we were at Borough Markets the skies decided to open and POUR down. I mean it rains in London a lot but even for the rainy climate this weather was bad. After a quick whip around the markets and a delicious halloumi and veggie burger me and Shea decided to head back to hers for more movies. Ok, I have a confession to make - we were watching all three Twilight movies (don’t judge) so our afternoon of seeing London ended up being an afternoon of analysing how weird Edward and Bella’s relationship is.
The next day after a brekky of pancakes my flatties plus Shea (who is an honorary member of Pulborough) decided to make our way into the city to Monument (#23 TICK!). My housemate Sammy G had wanted to climb for awhile and since it was in the book we were happy to tag along. Monument was built to commemorate the great fire of London and is 202 feet tall - the distance between the base and where the bakery that started where the great fire located. It is £3 to get in and climb to the top which is a pretty cheap way to get an amazing view over the city.
We all climbed the 311 stairs on a spiral staircase to the top and got to see a 360 degree view of the city as we puffed and panted after the climb. It was pretty windy up the top and not the most clear day but we still managed to see quite far into the distance. While it is no London Eye for seeing views of massive landmarks it was still great to grab a good view (and much cheaper!). Once we made our way down to the bottom we were greeted with a certificate to say we had climbed the tower. How cute!
With all the exercise it was the conesnsus that we all deserved a beer so we wandered over London Bridge to a little pub in Borough to grab a cider and a quick snack to re-energise. The rest of the crew decided to head on home and rest for the afternoon but while we were on top of Monument me and Shea had seen an old Routemaster bus go by. Since it was in the book and we were in the location we thought we might as well give it a go.
The Routemasters drive two routes one from Tower Hill via St Paul's Cathedral to Trafalgar Square (Number 15) and one from Trafalgar Square #82 - TICK already done tho!)to South Kensington (9). We wandered up to St Paul's (cue quick photo taking - this one is in the book also # 45 - but I’ve already done it TICK) and waited to get on a bus. The thing is we weren’t the only ones who had this idea and they were PACKED. We missed one before getting on the next one and heading up stairs to the top level. It was pretty cute ride along the streets but it was quite short since we had jumped on half way. Luckily for us we had a chance when we got off to snap a few photos!
By the end of the weekend I was pretty tired because we had been up and out and about the whole time but including the Proms I managed to tick 4 off properly! The following Thursday we decided to keep going on our roll of things to do and hit up the National Portrait Gallery (#8 - TICK) to check out the Glamour of The Gods exhibit. It was a showcase of old Hollywood photos of stars - including a nude shot of Marilyn Monroe before she was famous. We also checked out the BP Portrait Award finalists and winners before wandering through some of the rest of the gallery.
We got a good chunk of the book done over the weekend and now I am up to 41 - I think? There are many more of these ideas to be ticked off in the weeks to come so stay tuned!
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