How well do you know your own city? I live very close to London and have been there hundreds of times. However there are still many places in London that I have never visited.
On New Year’s Eve, my friend suggested that we should explore London. She had found a book called ‘London’s Secret Walks’. This guide book promised to show the reader all the secret places in London that tourists don’t know about. I thought this was a fantastic idea because:
a) I had definitely overeaten at Christmas so I needed to do some exercise!
b) Walking is a free activity - I had spent most of my money on Christmas presents.
We started walking along the Thames and crossed the river to St Paul’s Cathedral. There was a shopping centre nearby, so we climbed up to the roof and had an amazing view of the cathedral and the Christmas lights.
With our book in hand, we continued to Smithfield Market. This market is very colourful and is the largest meat market in the UK. Near the market we saw the Golden Boy of Pye Corner which is a funny golden statue of a boy. The boy is very fat because the statue shows where the Great Fire of London ended and claims that the fire was caused by the greed of the people.
My favourite part of our mini-adventure was when we discovered a Roman wall right in the middle of London. The wall was not discovered until the Second World War when a bomb fell in the area and revealed the wall.
We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of London. We visited countless churches, a beautiful square where there used to be a Roman amphitheatre and even saw a tardis from the TV show, Doctor Who! We also made friends during our walk as strangers told us about the history of the area. At the end of our tour, we were quite tired so we had a cup of tea and some cake at a nearby tearoom. What a wonderful way to end 2014!
Have you explored your own town/city? What is your favourite thing about your town?
