A Walk Along The Thames

To walk along the banks of the Thames, to feel the light spring breeze and hear it rustle the leaves of a thousand trees, to smell the grass of a hundred parks and hear the chatter of thousands of workers taking lunch out of doors, to listen the the bustle of the city... this is London on a late spring day. We walked yesterday, from our hotel to Parliament Square and then along Whitehall Road. At Horse Guards Road we turned towards the river then followed the twist of the road to the Embankment station. From there we turned up a narrow side street to find a place for lunch.

It was the oddest find, the kind of discovery you an only make in a city so cosmopolitan as London, an Italian restaurant serving buffalo as its specialty. I had an amazing double patty burger served in a pizza dough bun with eggplant and lightly grilled cherry tomatoes. We had Montepulciano red wine along with it. It was wonderful.

Our post lunch perambulation took us from Westminster down to the Millennium Bridge, nicked-named the Wibbly Wobbly Bridge when it started swaying uncontrollably during its grand opening. It took a further two years of construction to eliminate the wobble. We walked across the bridge, from the north side of the Thames to the south, from London to Soutwark, without a wobble, leaving the traffic of the Thames side road in London for the crowds of the Queen's Walkway on the other side.

This is a popular area of London, with a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern Gallery and the National Gallery extension, the London Eye, along with a great many pubs and restaurants dotting the walk that goes from the Tower to Westminster. On a sunny day like yesterday, it is crowded with tourists of every colour, shape, size and language. Every accent in the world can be heard on this stroll along the south bank of the Thames.

It was a wonderful walk, or roll in my case, although lengthy. Cheryl pushed me around for much of it, gaining her day's workout in the process, further explaining our decision to forgo dinner and go to bed early. Still, as all good days must end in London, we found a pub for a beer before heading home. Walking is the best way to see London. It is an amazing city.