London Walking Tour

Well, I’m back in London again and had a weekend layover. I thought I’d find some replica soccer jerseys for my kids and figured I’d check out a REAL football grounds along the way. I took the Tube from Leicester Square to Earl’s Court and walked the rest of the way to the Chelsea FC grounds. After a good look around the store at the stadium (if you want something Chelsea, that be the place), I ended up walking back to my hotel on Aldwych. 4.5mi if you take the direct route (which I didn’t). Saw many sights along Fulham Rd and Brompton Rd, then wandered the back streets of Westminster. Took many pictures.

After my stroll, I grabbed a bite a couple blocks east of Covent Garden in a restaurant called Lowlander Grand Cafe. Belgian-style. Ordered stoemp saucisse and enjoyed it with a Bachhus beer (Flemish brown ale aged in Oak… a little sour, but yummy).

London is a pretty amazing place. Still, I think I’d rather be home

Central London Running

As mentioned a while back in my Edinburgh (Dùn Èideann) post, in mid Aug’07 I traveled to the UK as part of a training project. Paul called yesterday afternoon and told me another opportunity had presented itself, so I’m off to London again this coming weekend for more. It got me thinking, as travel planning always does, what will my work-out regimen be during my trip? Normally, I end up defaulting to more running since my other favorites (swimming and biking) are often hard to coordinate while staying in hotels.

So I hit MapMyRun and dug up my routes from the last trip. If you’re traveling on business and don’t have time to see the sights, think again as you can pack in a lot during a 30min run in the morning. Here are two really excellent runs I devised during my most recent trip to London:

1. Look kids! Big Ben! Parliament!: This 3.79mi route, named after the famous Chevy Chase line in European Vacation, is simply spectacular in the sense that along the route one encounters vistas that include the River Thames, Buckingham Palace, St James’s Park and Houses of Parliament with Big Ben.
2. Strand / The Mall Out n’ Back w/ Buckingham Palace Loop: This 3.72mi route is also loaded with sights including Trafalgar Square, Admiralty Arch, The Mall, Buckingham Palace and St James’s Park.

BTW… Since both of these runs are along city streets in central London, it’s best to do them early in the day lest you risk getting hit by a car, bus or lorry (truck). Get out there and tour!

*BONUS RUN*
I also visited Belfast, Northern Ireland in Aug’07. It’s a lovely town surrounded by verdant green hills and, to me at least, it does not deserve the tarnished reputation that seems to cling to the name. Almost a decade has passed since the ratification of the Good Friday Agreement and the city seems to have done a lot to distance itself from its violent past. Here’s a dandy little 3.76mi excursion I call River Lagan Loop inc Ormeau Park that runs mostly along tow paths on either side of the River Lagan which runs through he middle of town. Enjoy!

Edinburgh (Dùn Èideann)

Recently, I spent a couple weeks working in the UK on a training project. While there, I made a mad dash over a weekend to Edinburgh to visit my younger sister Corey and her Scottish husband Alex. I took the train from London King’s Cross (famous for it’s Hogwarts departures from Platform 9¾) to Edinburgh Waverly. The trip north took a little over 4 hours and included a wonderful stretch along the English / Scottish North Sea coastline. Upon arrival, we immediately went to dinner at a place called The Steading which sits at the foot of the Midlothian Snowsports Centre (no comment). After a fine fillet of batter fried haddock, chips and a pint of Orkney Dark Island ale we headed for home. The next day, I woke up to the drizzle the north is so well known for and went out for a run along the Union Canal. After my run, I attempted to get on-line to check e-mail, but there was some “technical difficulties” I won’t go into here for fear of eventual bad karma when my brother-in-law visits us in Denver somewhere down the road.

Since the weather was still a lovely damp misting, we thought it would be good to venture into the city center. A quick bus ride up to Princes Street left us standing below Edinburgh Castle and amongst a massive throng of people in town for the month-long Edinburgh International Festival (otherwise known as Fringe 2007). As luck would have it, the festival and my trip coincided. The festival is a massive affair: this year featured 31,000 performances of 2,050 shows in 250 venues. Literally, there are a thousand things to do every day. Hard to decide what to see, but we eventually settled on a production of The Physicists at the Edinburgh College of Art and Neil Delamere performance at the Assembly Rooms on George Street. The former was interesting, the latter a hysterical PowerPoint presentation covering the history of Viking and Norman incursions onto the British Isles.

Along the way, we spent a couple hours wandering around Edinburgh Castle. Sitting high atop a small mountain and bordered on three sides by shear cliffs, the castle is in remarkable condition considering it’s history starts about 1,000 years ago. It’s a must see sight when you’re in Edinburgh even if it is packed with tourists. Be sure to get pictures at the castle entrance which is guarded by statues of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.

We also had lunch at a place on The Royal Mile called The Albanach. Since I’d failed the night before, I went for the classic haggis, neaps and tats. Don’t ask what’s in it as you might wimp out… just eat it and tell the server to keep the pints of Belhaven Best coming. We also did a little pub hopping along pedestrian-only Rose Street, then found our way home about 10pm for a late snack and bed. Looking back, I’m amazed at the number of things we jammed into a single Saturday. I’m thinking Corey and Alex ought to write one of those 3 Perfect Days articles for the United Airlines in-flight magazine because they know how to “time optimize” Edinburgh sightseeing and beer drinking.

Sunday morning arrived way too soon… off to the station and my train back to London. I can’t wait for my next trip to Scotland. Hopefully, I’ll be able to take more time and hike the Highlands, visit some whiskey distilleries and maybe catch a rugby match. I highly recommend Edinburgh if you’re in the UK and can squeeze it in with the usual (boring) itinerary items around London. It’s worth the trip.