The Hammersmith Project

I’ll be brief on this one.  I probably spent about 4 hours on my feet today between my South London escapade, scoping-out Hammersmith and walking to FSU for a security briefing (I'm mad tired).  It was great, I saw some great sites and got a lot of exercise (which was awesome). 

The day started with a “stroll” across the Thames through London’s financial district and into Southern London.  We passed a lot of tourist traps, like a walk through the “dungeons” of London which looked more like a house of horrors than a walk through the actual tunnels beneath London.  We did see what could have been another tourist trap – which I really don’t want to call one, but it really looks like one – down the street; a preserved air raid shelter from The Blitz.  It had relics of the German Blitzkrieg over London all assembled in an old tube station that a lot of British citizens used to hide from the fire storms and bombs.  I don’t think I’d mind spending money on that one, especially since it’s right up my alley.  We passed City Hall, this massive egg-shaped building where old Boris Johnson and his crazy hair get work done.  Right under the Union Jack was the 2012 Olympic flag, reminding me how much the city was going to heat up in the next couple months.  Construction of the venues is on-going, but some like the O₂ Arena and Wimbledon are already in existence.  I can’t wait to go to Wimbledon and get a tour of the grounds.  There is so much to do right here in London, I can’t wait to jump in with both feet.

The London Eye

That's the Gherkin in the background

City Hall

London Bridge

The Blitz Memorial

As soon as we actually made it back to the flat, I had to turn around and catch the tube to Hammersmith (possibly the coolest name I’ve ever heard) to look-up supermarkets for London Citizens.  In short, they were a lot harder to find than we thought.  We got most of them and made our way back pretty uneventfully.  The one thing that did stick out was how high-class a lot of the neighborhoods looked right off the main road.  This was a community that went from heavily urban into a suburban setting – it definitely showed. 

I’ll get to everything, and I’m looking forward to a day off tomorrow.  I’ve got an open-top bus tour tomorrow of London and have the rest of the day off.  We’re going to try an Italian dinner to top the day off to break-in the kitchen for the semester. 

Stay tuned…