A 7mile run from Work to Home reminds me why I Love London so much. I can't imagine there are too many cities when you have to run past such awesome sites to get home:
Battersea Dogs Home
Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is the UK's oldest and most famous home for dogs and cats and is situated in the Battersea area of London, England. It is financed by voluntary donations with an income of almost £12.2 million in 2010.
The SIS Building
The SIS Building, also commonly known as the MI6 Building, is the headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service (otherwise known as "MI6"). It is known within the intelligence community as Legoland and also as "Babylon-on-Thames" due to its resemblance to an ancient Babylonian ziggurat. It is located at 85, Albert Embankment in the south western part of central London, on the bank of the River Thames beside Vauxhall Bridge.
Houses of Parliament
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the heart of the London borough of the City of Westminster, close to the historic Westminster Abbey and the government buildings of Whitehall and Downing Street. The name may refer to either of two structures: the Old Palace, a medieval building complex, most of which was destroyed in 1834, and its replacement New Palace that stands today. The palace retains its original style and status as a royal residence for ceremonial purposes.
St Thomas Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS hospital in London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is, with Guy's Hospital and King's College Hospital, the location of King's College London School of Medicine.
It has provided health care freely or under charitable auspices since the 12th century and was originally located in Southwark. St Thomas' Hospital is one of London's most famous hospitals, associated with names such as Astley Cooper, William Cheselden, Florence Nightingale, Linda Richards, Edmund Montgomery and Agnes Elizabeth Jones. It is a prominent London landmark - largely due to its location on the opposite bank of the River Thames to the Houses of Parliament.
County Hall
County Hall, a nine-story building with more than 1,500 rooms, occupying a 6.5-acre site on the south bank of the Thames at the end of Westminster Bridge, was the headquarters of the Greater London Council until its abolition in 1986, when local government was vested in the London boroughs. The building, in neo-Renaissance style, was begun in 1912 and completed in 1932. New wings were added in 1936 and 1956. There is a good view of County Hall, with its 250 m-long (750ft) facade, centered on a semicircular colonnade, and its steeply pitched roof, from the Victoria Embankment on the opposite side of the Thames. The building has been renovated and developed, now housing the London Marriott County Hall, London Aquarium, Dali Universe, and Namco Station, as well as restaurants.
The London Eye
The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames, in London, England. The entire structure is 135 metres (443 ft) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 metres (394 ft). It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually.When erected in 1999, it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until surpassed first by the 160 m (520 ft) Star of Nanchang in 2006, and then the 165 m (541 ft) Singapore Flyer in 2008. It is still described by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" (as the wheel is supported by an A-frame on one side only, unlike the Nanchang and Singapore wheels). The London Eye, or Millennium Wheel, was officially called the British Airways London Eye and then the Merlin Entertainments London Eye. Since 20 January 2011, its official name is the EDF Energy London Eye following a three-year sponsorship deal.
The OXO Tower
The OXO Tower is a building with a prominent tower on the south bank of the River Thames in London. The building currently has a set of bijou arts and crafts shops on the ground and first floors. A well-known restaurant is located on the 8th floor, which is the roof top level of the main building. The second to 7th floors contain 78 residential apartments
The new Blackfriars Station
Blackfriars station, also known as London Blackfriars, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London. Its platforms span the River Thames a short distance downstream from Blackfriars Bridge. The north bank entrance is on the south side of Queen Victoria Street close to the junction with New Bridge Street. A new entrance on the south bank opened on 5 December 2011.The station is in Travelcard Zone 1. The Underground station was closed for major engineering for nearly three years from March 2009. It reopened on 20 February 2012
The Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group (together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives and Tate Online). It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year. It is based in the former Bankside Power Station, in the Bankside area of Central London.
Shakespeares Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings. It was founded by the actor and director Sam Wanamaker and built approximately 230 metres (750 ft) from the site of the original theatre. The theatre was opened to the public in 1997, with a production of Henry V. The site also includes a reconstruction of the Blackfriars Theatre.
Clink Street
Narrow, dark and cobbled, it is best known as the historic location of the notorious Clink Prison, giving rise to the slang phrase 'in the clink', meaning 'in prison'. The prison was burned down in riots during 1780, and a small museum and tourist attraction now occupies part of the site.
Clink Street is very close, and runs parallel, to the River Thames. A replica of the Golden Hind is moored in a small dock at the eastern end of the street.
HMS Belfast
HMS Belfast is a museum ship, originally a Royal Navy light cruiser, permanently moored in London on the River Thames and operated by the Imperial War Museum.
City Hall
City Hall is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority (GLA) which comprises the Mayor of London and London Assembly. It is located in Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. It was designed by Norman Foster and opened in July 2002, two years after the Greater London Authority was created.
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge (built 1886-1894) is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name. It has become an iconic symbol of London.
The bridge consists of two towers tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontal walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical component of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. The bridge's present colour scheme dates from 1977, when it was painted red, white and blue for the Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee. Originally it was painted a mid greenish-blue colour.
Shad Thames
Shad Thames is an historic riverside street next to Tower Bridge in Bermondsey, London, England, and is also an informal name for the surrounding area. In Victorian times, Shad Thames included the largest warehouse complex in London. Completed in 1873, the warehouses housed huge quantities of tea, coffee, spices and other commodities, which were unloaded and loaded onto river boats. An 1878 book says:
Shad Thames, and, indeed, the whole river-side, contain extensive granaries and storehouses for the supply of the metropolis. Indeed, from Morgan's Lane—a turning about the middle of Tooley Street, on the north side, to St. Saviour's (once called Savory) Dock, the whole line of street—called in one part Pickle Herring Street, and in another Shad Thames—exhibits an uninterrupted series of wharves, warehouses, mills, and factories, on both sides of the narrow and crowded roadway.
The Mayflower Pub
A pub has stood on the site since time immemorial, and certainly, when the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in their own Mayflower from a nearby mooring in 1620.
Finally we get Home!
After about an hour we get home to relax!
