the running tour

so one of the first things i did monday morning was go on a running tour around london! you meet up with a guide on a variety of tours, depending on what your looking for and your run as a group around the city while they share history and trivia. i heard about while exploring jamies blog that she did it in october and i knew had to fit it in. since i arrived sunday and the rest of my friends wouldnt be coming down until monday afternoon i knew it was perfect. i met lloyd outside the tower hill tube station and we set off on our 7k riverside tour from there!

the tower hill tube station

turns out i was the only signed up so we could go at any pace. lloyd was quite a bit faster than me so he kept having to slow down haha. he offered up all kinds of trivia as we wound around the tower of london and across the tower bridge. weaving our away next to the thames and next to the globe theater i learned that the original has burned down and the one standing today is an exact replica! and that the thames is actually the cleanest river in europe! the reason it looks so gross is the stuff on the bottom being sifted around because of the strong current. and you can actually swim in it just outside the city!

running along the thames.

the tower bridge

we passed st. pauls cathedral that has been rebuilt 5 times and over the millennium bridge, which was originally named the wobbly bridge. we headed toward the eye and houses of parliament and i learned that the party in power now is mostly liberal conservatives which sounded totally off the wall to an american!

st. pauls cathedral!

big ben and the houses of parliament!

the london eye.
the largest grossing tourist
attraction in the city!

we ended there and lloyd took me to the nearest tube station and we rode home a little bit together. he actually works in a bookstore and does the tour thing whenever they call. we even got to talking do much we missed out stop and had to double back! it was so cool to see the city through running and meet someone with such a passion for it. he was the nicest guy and i would soooo recommend it to anyone that hops the pond!

my tour guide lloyd!