Holding Hands With Colin Firth

For our culture and community class we have to go on walks around the city throughout the semester. This assignment is to help us get better acquainted with the city and all it has to offer.One Saturday Brittany, Ashael, Jenny, Haley, and I all headed out and went on the Theatre Walk. The first thing we saw was the Thames River and from there we saw the Oxo Tower that was built in 1928. We can also see Big Ben from here.Then we went to Cleopatra's Needle- this is one of a pair the other is in Central Park. This was recovered in Alexandria in the early 1800s. It was really cool to see this in the center of London.

Then we had a walk around Victoria Embankment Gardens and saw the statues of Arthur Sullivan, Robert Raikes, and Robert Burns. In the park my favorite statue was the one called Imperial Camel Corps for the troops who saw action in Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine in WWI.

Then of course we walked along Drury Lane- where sadly I did not see any muffin men but it was still great to go! Drury Lane is now part of the theatre district but it was named after Sir Robert Drury and was one of the worst slums of London.

Of course along the way we went into Covent Garden. This Saturday they had all these booths in the square that were from shops around the square. In the square there is also a St. Paul's church that you can go in and look around. Since it was a Saturday there were so many people in the square shopping around and there were a lot of buskers.

Another really important stop and my favorite part of the walk was Leicester Square. You can go here for half price tickets! This was once the property of the second Earl of Leicester. Today there are many statues of important people in the square like Shakespeare, Joshua Reynolds, William Hogarth, Sir Isaac Newton, and Charlie Chaplin. In the late 1700s this was a favorite gathering place of artists.

But my favorite part was putting my hands in the hand print of Colin Firth my all time love. Since I have come to terms that I will not actually meet Colin I think that 'holding hands' with him will have to be good enough!

Then we went through Trafalgar Square and I stood in the middle of London. Trafalgar is named to honor the Battle of Trafalgar in Spain. When I came here in the 8th grade there were so many pigeons around, but now there have been manor reforms and it is illegal to feed the pigeons in the area.

One of the last few stops was through Piccadilly Circus which is called the 'navel of London.' Then we ended in China Town- which I was so excited cause I love everything Chinese!

It was fun to walk around the town and see all that the Theatre district has to offer. I would like to credit a lot of the information I put in here to the "Walking Through London's History" by Arthur R. Bassett.