The Fastest and Cheapest way to see London!

Before I tell you my little secret I found out today, I'm going to do a quick catch up on my life here. Last Sunday (exactly one week ago), I spent the afternoon paddle boating on the Serpentine in Hyde Park.

Also, last weekend, my best friend went to Disney World, and It's literally ALL her family every talks about. I've never been, so of course I was very sad that my Coppell fam went to Disney World once again without me. Plus, I just miss them terribly.

They took a pic in the London part of Epcott and sent it to me... I don't know what that means, but I thinks it's an area in Disney World 

This was my reply, because of course, I was stuck in my room writing essays and reading for class and day dreaming of Disney World

I went to THE BEST exhibition I think I've ever seen. I wish it had opened early, I would've loved to write my exhibition review on this bad boy.

Sadly, my pass keeps failing me, I didn't get in free *disappointment*

And I had a photo shoot in the National Gallery, I'm being featured on an instagram account for students next week so I had to send in some pics.

I honestly have no idea who this painting is by, we just thought it would be compositionally interesting for the photo.

And my awesome roommate played in a beautiful orchestra concert last night.

Me and the Roomz

NOW. For what you have all been waiting for, the heart of this post, for which I sadly only have a few photos.

The Fastest and Cheapest way to see London!

RUNNING!

Now, that probably wasn't the answer you were expecting, but today I found out just how small the city is by foot.

If you know anything about food companies, like Sysco, you will know that if it's all you eat you WILL gain weight. Well, unfortunately, the food served at the student housing I am living in is basically the same thing, but worse. I actually wish it was Sysco, but it's not. So, I have gained quite a bit of unwanted weight in my mid section over the past month and a half and have been too busy with school to do anything about it. But, this week I decided to just make time for working out anyways.

Yesterday I woke up and it was pouring rain and 60 degrees, if you ask me, that's the perfect running weather. So I ran 3.5 miles and did my normal post-run workout: lunges, squats, pushups, and abs.

Peter Pan Statue in Kensington Gardens. I finally found him yesterday on my run!

Today, I woke up very sore as I haven't ran in a week and a half. I decided I would set out for a run today and just see how far into the city I could get. The weather this morning was sunny and chilly, in the high 50's (makes for some much needed vitamin D!). I LOVE running this time of year, actually I prefer it to be a tad bit cooler than it was today, but I'm not complaining. I started off with my eyes set on Buckingham Palace. I had no idea how long it would take me to get there so I decided it was a good goal. My run started off the same as all my runs, taking back streets to get to Kensington Gardens, where I ran by Kensington Palace (first tourist attraction on my run). I then ran through Kensington Garden, Hyde Park (where I went paddle boating last week), and passed under the Wellington Arch into Green Park where I popped out at Buckingham Palace. It had only taken me 25 minutes to run there! Way less time than I had anticipated.

While I wanted to just go on a slow run today to get out some of my soreness, I kept going, this time with my goal set on Big Ben. So I crossed through to St. James Park and ran by the Churchill War Rooms Museum (amazing museum btw, I recommend it) and weaved my way through the MANY tourists past Westminster Abbey and found myself at Parliament, the home of Big Ben. I didn't cross the Thames (although I should've, the South Bank path is wider and more direct than what I ran) but turned North to run along the Thames, which gave me a spectacular view of the London Eye across the river.

And I kept running, I had already made it this far, right? I made my way around the bend and found myself at Millennium Bridge. This bridge is strictly a pedestrian bridge and crosses the Thames for easy access to the Tate Modern Museum (I still haven't been there, shame) and St. Pauls Cathedral. And I kept on running.

At this point I was going to stop either after I had been running for an hour, or when I reached the Tower Bridge, whichever came first. Sadly, I reached the hour mark at London Bridge, just one bridge shy of the famous Tower Bridge. As I was already far past my running limit, I made the smart decision and stopped (I had to listen to my body at this point, and it needed refueling badly).

But I could see Tower Bridge, so that counts right? And I'm pretty sure thats the Tower of London on the left of the bridge you can kind of maybe make out. Might be making that up.

So I hopped on the nearest tube and went straight back to my apartment. I ran 6 miles today in an hour, which is, on average, a 10 minute paced mile. I also saw a enormous chunk of tourist sights in London for free and within said hour. So, if you love running, like me, and want to see the sights of London quickly and at no cost (except the tube price to get back where you started) I'd recommend running! It also makes you look like a local Londoner! However, there are some draw backs. As you see, I only took two pictures on my run, I didn't want to break my cadence to take pictures at EVERY attraction or pretty photo op I saw. I also only looked at the sights, I didn't actually experience them in any way, so you give some and you lose some.

I still think it's amazing that I can run from my apartment to Tower Bridge (respectfully) in an hour. If you would like to see what that looks like on a map, here it is, I mapped it when I got home using mapmyrun.com.

I have no idea how I ran that far. I am completely out of shape. I honestly think It was the sights of London that kept my mind captivated on where I was and not on what my body was doing. My body will hate me tomorrow and I pray that I can get out of bed easily in the morning.

So, there's an update on my week and my new found discovery of how small London actually can be. I will admit that I used this blog post as a warm up writing exercise for the paper I am supposed to be working on, as its due Wednesday morning. Yay for grad school. I still have A TON to do today before I go to bed, so I must end here. If you are still with me, get outside today in the changing season from summer to fall, surround yourself with good company, and have some fun in the great outdoors! There is so much adventure waiting out there for you!