seats of power.

The other day we took The Seats of Power Walk as designed in our London Walks book. We began our tour by getting off at the Westminster tube stop and walking along the Thames River. This is the first time I've seen Big Ben, the London Eye and the Thames in the daylight. It was beautiful and I was even more pleased to be living in London.

As we headed down the road we encountered many statues of important people in British history. We saw a statue of Charles G Gordon who was deeply involved in British affairs in China and Africa in the 19th century. This statue stands as a memorial to his life and death.

Just adjacent to the statue was a deep well with stone steps. These steps were built for Queen Mary II to have a better view of the Thames.

As we continued on we came to a statue of William Tyndale. William Tyndale played a major part in the British reformation when he began translating the Bible. He smuggled pages of the Bible in a page at a time until he was later forced to flee and then killed for his efforts.

We soon came upon Trafalgar Square and a statue of Charles I. As we got to Trafalgar Square, I realized how connected the city was. The other day when we were at the National Gallery, I didn't notice how close we were to the Thames and Big Ben. But in all reality, everything is just blocks away from each other.

Then we headed to see the Horse Guards. We couldn't get a very good luck however, because they were carrying out a formal inspection of the guards and the courtyard was full of people.

As we continued walking we came upon 10 Downing Street. This was a very interesting park of our walk as this spot is such a famous landmark in London. For one, the Prime Minister lives there. Also, this area is like the White House for England. Being so, the area was heavily guarded and gated.

We carried on to see Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The Mall, Kensington Palace and many statues.

I really enjoyed this walk. For one, it was interesting to see how close everything is. I never realized how truly small the city of London was until I actually made my way through the city. I also thought it was interesting to see all these sights that I have heard about all my life and be able to understand more fully how everything works.