A Walk Around the City

I took a walk around "the City", exploring the busy, crowded financial district of London. Amidst the tall skyscrapers are a variety of structures unique in their architectural design, ranging from office buildings and monuments, to churches. Behind me in the picture is both a church, and an awesome, huge building that can be seen for miles and miles around.

A couple of the other sites I saw included London's first tea house (which appears extremely popular), Mansion House, St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Mary le Bow's church, and many other buildings. It is said that anyone born within the sound of the bells of St. Mary le Bow's church is a true cockney.

Upon reaching the London Monument, I couldn't resist climbing all the stairs to the top for an incredible view of the city, especially the portion I had just wandered around for the past couple of hours. The Monument was constructed in memory of the great fire that burned so much of London in 1666. It stands 202 ft. tall, a height that if it were laid on its side from where its foundation is right now, its top would be at the exact spot where the fire is actually have said to have started.

From where I stood at the top of the monument, I could see miles around in every direction. I had a great view of the Thames as well as Tower Bridge. It was pretty windy of there, and considerably colder, but enjoyable nonetheless. Those are the moments where pictures almost don't do the experience justice. You close your eyes and try to recapture those images for future reference; memories of sights that your eyes will always treasure.

After climbing down and down and down those endless spiral stairs, I was handed a certificate at the bottom that congratulating me for officially making it all the way to the top of the London Monument. It made me smile, but a pretty neat souvenoir nonetheless.

I considerably enjoyed my time on this walk, exploring and getting to know London better. The city feels more and more like home everyday.