I went for a late evening swing through London last night. I caught bus number 168, at Haverstock Hill near Steele's Road, about 15 minutes' walk from my home on Belsize Park in Belsize Park (The street name and the neighborhood name are the same. Makes cab rides fun).
The modern, double-decker bus, carrying a fair number of folks making their way home from a pub, headed downhill for lively Camden Town, the street name changing to Chalk Farm Road. We passed the Chalk Farm tube station on the Northern Line, and the Stables Market -- a fun place to go on a weekend day where you can buy used books, used clothes, furniture and crafts -- before crossing Regent's Canal via Hawley Road and Camden Street.
A right turn onto Camden Road takes you past a futuristic supermarket along the canal. Then a quick left onto Bayham Street and you're heading south again, toward the Thames.
After another right onto Crowndale Road, then a left onto Eversholt Street take you past the Northern Line's Mornington Crescent stop and Somers Town. Then, you pass Euston Station, one of London's many rail stations and a gateway to Scotland. It's one of London's uglier stations, thanks to a 1960s rebuild.
Crossing Euston Road, our double-decker headed into the heart of the city as Eversholt morphed into Upper Woburn Place, Tavistock Square and Woburn Place. Another green square -- Bloomsbury's elegant Russell Square, sitting short walking distances between the British Museum to the south and Coram's Fields children's park to the northeast.
After Russell Square, the street becomes Southampton Row, then, after crossing High Holborn and passing the Holborn tube stop (Picadilly and Central lines), broad Kingsway (as in king's way). Kingsway dead-ends at semicircular Aldwych -- the street name is old Saxon for "old town". Down Aldwych, then a right onto the Strand and then across Waterloo Bridge, my favorite London bridge because you can see both St. Paul's Cathedral (to the left) and the Houses of Parliament (to the right).
At the southern end of Waterloo Bridge, I got off the bus and walked down the steps from the bridge to the South Bank of the Thames.
I walked along the river, which by then was nearly deserted. The Thames was at low tide, and two young men walked along the resulting "beach" along the river. A young tourist asked me how to get down to where the young men were. I told him to walk along the river until he found some stairs down to the shore (they pop up regularly).
I passed the National Film Theatre and its cafe, Royal Festival Hall, the London Eye ferris wheel -- glowing blue in the night -- London County Hall, with the Saatchi Museum, the London Aquarium and the Dali Museum, coming finally to Westminster Bridge. I crossed the bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in front of me to the left. I never get tired of them.
I went down into the Westminster tube station, boarded a Jubilee Line train -- and went home.
The modern, double-decker bus, carrying a fair number of folks making their way home from a pub, headed downhill for lively Camden Town, the street name changing to Chalk Farm Road. We passed the Chalk Farm tube station on the Northern Line, and the Stables Market -- a fun place to go on a weekend day where you can buy used books, used clothes, furniture and crafts -- before crossing Regent's Canal via Hawley Road and Camden Street.
A right turn onto Camden Road takes you past a futuristic supermarket along the canal. Then a quick left onto Bayham Street and you're heading south again, toward the Thames.
After another right onto Crowndale Road, then a left onto Eversholt Street take you past the Northern Line's Mornington Crescent stop and Somers Town. Then, you pass Euston Station, one of London's many rail stations and a gateway to Scotland. It's one of London's uglier stations, thanks to a 1960s rebuild.
Crossing Euston Road, our double-decker headed into the heart of the city as Eversholt morphed into Upper Woburn Place, Tavistock Square and Woburn Place. Another green square -- Bloomsbury's elegant Russell Square, sitting short walking distances between the British Museum to the south and Coram's Fields children's park to the northeast.
After Russell Square, the street becomes Southampton Row, then, after crossing High Holborn and passing the Holborn tube stop (Picadilly and Central lines), broad Kingsway (as in king's way). Kingsway dead-ends at semicircular Aldwych -- the street name is old Saxon for "old town". Down Aldwych, then a right onto the Strand and then across Waterloo Bridge, my favorite London bridge because you can see both St. Paul's Cathedral (to the left) and the Houses of Parliament (to the right).
At the southern end of Waterloo Bridge, I got off the bus and walked down the steps from the bridge to the South Bank of the Thames.
I walked along the river, which by then was nearly deserted. The Thames was at low tide, and two young men walked along the resulting "beach" along the river. A young tourist asked me how to get down to where the young men were. I told him to walk along the river until he found some stairs down to the shore (they pop up regularly).
I passed the National Film Theatre and its cafe, Royal Festival Hall, the London Eye ferris wheel -- glowing blue in the night -- London County Hall, with the Saatchi Museum, the London Aquarium and the Dali Museum, coming finally to Westminster Bridge. I crossed the bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in front of me to the left. I never get tired of them.
I went down into the Westminster tube station, boarded a Jubilee Line train -- and went home.
posted by Jonathan at 6:49 AM
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