"a beautiful day for a walk"

I have Fridays off. Well, relatively speaking. I probably should have been working on one of the two essays that are due next week but I decided my time would be better spent wandering the streets. 

I went into central and got out at Baker St. Truthfully, it's a little further out than what most people would do but I like the walk...it's one of my favorites. It's my 'hood (I promise, that's as ghetto as I get). When I was here in 2006 this was basically the neighborhood I lived in. I get to walk through Paddington Park. I told you this city was full of parks ;) It's cute. Not too big, tons of trees, benches that are perfect for sitting and having lunch. Then I walked down Marylebone High Street. I have such sweet memories of Marylebone. It's quite a posh little area. AIU, the school I was at before, is on this street...and it's where I lived before. Tons of hustle bustle. I heart hustle bustle. We had a great flat right in the middle of it all. On a corner, just above Starbucks, with a front row seat to the gorgeous guy in the flat across the street who apparently didn't like to wear shirts. It can get busy but I know a few short cuts so it's not too bad...especially compared to Oxford. In about half an hour I made the quarter mile (if that) trek from Marylebone High to Regent on Oxford with about 10 million of my closest friends. The closer you get to Piccadilly doesn't get much better but once you've made it through Leicester Square and found your way to Trafalgar Square you know it was worth it. 

Sitting in Trafalgar Square on a beautiful day, like Friday was, is fantastic. The sky is clear and the air cool. There are people around but if you can find a seat next to the fountains you start to block out everything. The massive lion statues can consume you. Big Ben, in the distance, intrigues you. The architecture of the surrounding buildings seduces you. 

After an hour more of walking around I started back to Harrow. I had gotten so lost in the sights and the sound of Kings of Leon on my iPod that I missed the street to the tube station I wanted. An older woman stopped me and happened to be looking for the street I was looking for. She was a sweet English woman on her way to get her hair done. So we asked for directions and it turned out we had both passed up the street. When we found where we were going she said, "You can go ahead if you're in a hurry, no need to wait for me." I explained that I wasn't in a hurry I was simply out taking a walk. She said: "Well, it certainly is a beautiful day for a walk."     

Truer words have never been spoken.