London Greenery

London is one of the greenest cities in the world! With two-thirds of the city covered in green space and water, it's hard to tour around the city and not feel like your swimming in a sea of green. We arrived in the city around 10a.m. last Monday morning and, despite a physically and emotionally draining jet lag, our first stop was to explore the area around where are staying in Chelsea. As we walked around, I couldn't help but notice the extensive number of parks across the area. Most of the parks lie within the central area of London. Several of the parks are considered the Royal Parks of London because they were the land originally owned by the monarchy of England, but because of the increasing population and urbanization of London, the parks became open space which the public and tourists could freely walk through.

One of the parks we went to today is one that, i believe, holds up to it's name very well. Green Park covers central London in about 53 acres of green land and trees and lies between Hyde Park and St. James Park. This park is definitely the place for local Londoners and tourists alike to come relax, contemplate, and enjoy the fresh green scenery.

After watching the changing of the guard, we ventured off to another of London's Royal Parks. St James's Park is another green scene in central London and, if you are into ghost stories, this park has the best story in town. It is said that the misty ghost of a woman dressed in red is frequently spotted drifting from Cockpit steps in the direction of St. James Park. It is thought to be the ghostly remains of an officers wife. One Theory is that the officer murdered his wife by cutting off her head and disposing of her body in the pond in St James Park, but he was caught by his fellow officers. The ghost is usually said to be wearing red and in some cases, headless.

Chasing the Smart Cars:

So on a lighter note, throughout my adventures around London town, I have notice these grass covered bugs that drive all around the city. Check them out. These things are smart cars covered in artificial grass turf and they belong to the Easigrass artificial grass company. Seeing as how the locals take great pride in a well kept garden, it is no surprise that grass is dead and plastic is alive and well!

London is indefinitely a town of ghosts, and whether or not you are a believer, you cannot help but feel the presence of the past and those who inhabited it while walking around a town like this.
Today we visited Fleet Street, which is a street in London most properly know for it history in the publishing industry. Publishing started on Fleet Street around the 1500's and since then, it has been home to many world renowned writers such as Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, and Anne Scott-James.
Although these are probably the more accurate histories of Fleet Street, it is also famous for a story of a much more chilling gravity. Fleet Street is also know to be the home of one demon barber more commonly known as Sweeney Todd. The demon barber of Fleet Street is traditionally said to have lived and worked on Fleet Street. The story tells that the demon barber would lure unsuspecting customers into his shop by offering them a shave. While they were there, he would slit their throats and pull a lever on the side of the barber chair that would cause a trap door to the basement to open up and the victims would fall through. Once Todd had pocketed all of their goods, Mr. Todd's partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett would dispose of the bodies by baking their flesh into meat pies at her bakery shop and selling them to unsuspecting customers.
Although the actual existence of such a man is often disputed, I couldn't help but feel an eerie chill through my body as I walked down the sidewalk of Fleet Street knowing that such a man could have existed and that he walked the very street that I was standing on while he looked to prey on his next victims.

Today we also visited Saint Paul's Cathedral, which is another site in London where you cannot help but feel the past lives that have come and gone from the site. The thing that makes St Paul's Cathedral such a marker of the past goes back to traditional European burial practices. While most common people were buried in grave yards or unmarked graves, nobles and people of high social status were commonly buried inside or beneath churches and cathedrals.
In the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, where a cafe and gift shop now stand, there lie stone epitaphs in the floor in remembrance of two people who were buried there. At the base of the stone there is a carving reading: "The memory of the just shall be in everlasting remembrance."
Again, instilling in our minds that the dead are never gone. They are always there, lurking in spirit and in memory. (Crypt video coming soon)

My Itinerary

Hello! My name is Rachel Sokoloski and I am about to embark on an adventure to the UK to trek from London to Scotland.

Here's the details on whats in store for the next 3 weeks of my life:

May 18th- Arrive in London
May 19th- visiting the Roman Wall and the Lord Mayor's office, and a tour of the tower of London
May 20th- off to visit Big Ben, Saint James Park and Palace, and Buckingham Palace
May 21st- St. Paul's Cathedral
May 25th- exploring Shakespeare's London during the day and Jack the Ripper's London at night
May 26th- Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus
May 27th- off to Southwark to visit Shakespeare's Globe Theater
May 28th- Tour of where the Beatles and other major British bands got their start
May 31st- depart for Edinburgh, Scotland and a night tour of Edinburgh's most haunted places
June 1st- Start tour of the northern Highlands of Scotland
June 2nd- Tour continues northward to Isle of Skye
June 3rd- Vikings and Gallic castles!
June 4th- Loch Ness and Culloden Moor
June 5th- back to Edinburgh
June 6th- back to London


Sounds Like Fun!! I'll do my best to post on everything I encounter.