Exploring London #1

 

 

One of my favourite things to do at the moment is go for a walk. I find it really helps me to clear out my mind and actually relax. Alongside that, it also gives me time to take in what I see around me, as well as do something other than work, eat and sleep. Growing up in London meant that I took many things for granted that many people actually spend considerable amounts of money to travel and see. For example, there is so much history around. Museums, art galleries, landmarks, live music venues, cathedrals, churches, palaces, parks and even huge shopping streets and centres. As a result of my boyfriend not being British, it's actually a nice excuse to think of things to do and see.

The first thing we've done is go to Greenwich Park, arguably one of the best Parks and has the most beautiful views across the city. It's home to the Greenwich World Hertiage Site and includes the Royal Observatory, the National Maritime Museum, the Old Royal Naval College and the Queen's House. There is so much history in this park, particularly from British Royal history, first as a hunting park during the Tudor era and it was also home to the Tudor and Stuart palaces as well as Greenwich Hospital. Greenwich is also home to Greenwich Mean Time, and at night you can see a laser that goes across London that lets you know where time begins. Even some of the plants in the Park are associated with royalty, such as the Queen's Oak (Elizabeth I) and the Wilderness which alludes to its hunting days, complete with wild deers. The flower garden and the garden of the Astronomer Royal are also lovely parts to visit, dating back to the 17th century.

The nicest thing about the park is probably the views of London however. You can see literally so many landmarks if you walk up to Flamsteed House. Canary Wharf, the o2 (The Millenium Dome), the Gherkin, the Shard, the old gasworks, ferry ports and docks. Piotr and I went in the afternoon, as it's now autumn and getting much darker, much faster in the evenings it meant that we saw the view in twilight, definitely my favourite time of say to take in such a nice view. I'm definitely liking sunsets a lot recently, I like the colours and how the lights of buildings twinkle and glitter in the darkness. I'm liking the decision to travel around London and enjoy what tourists pay money for, it's nice to discover new things on a budget. 

A month in instagram - September

 

 

 

 

This year seems to be disappearing... I have no idea how it's the end of September already. Part of me likes it, because I love autumn and winter and I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. I've had a nice month, spent a lot of time with my love and walked my dog so much that I have too many photos of pretty sunsets. I was bought flowers twice and believe me, they smell and look so nice, makes me happy. I spent some time with my nephews for the first time in ages and I really enjoyed their company. I've done nothing especially interesting or overly amazing, but all of the little things are what makes life whole for me. 

I've began to see the beauty in every life, the unimportant moments and the cityscapes that surround where I live. After a rough few months during this year it's been great to start finally feeling able to see beautiful things, to enjoy what I see and what I do, even if it's something most would find 'boring', like a dog walk or a quiet meal. I've enjoyed a rare few meals out and about, and showed some touristy landmarks to my boyfriend who isn't British. It was nice seeing London from a different perspective and after taking my nephews on a boat, I would say I really want to explore London and the world more, I'd like to experience more things.

An industrial city river walk...

Hi everyone! As you have probably seen, my puppy Star is a 'Jug'; a Jack Russell/Pug X and so she needs walking literally everyday where possible. Her favourite walk is along the river where I live, probably one of the more industrial views available! As I'm going back to university later on this month and I'm struggling a little inspiration wise, my grandmother had the brainwave of telling me to take my camera out when I took Star out for a walk with my mum.

I have to say, if there is one thing I do love about living in a city is the lights and shapes that that reflect everywhere, as seen in the water/ripples in many of these photographs. Sometimes its good to just take photographs for no real reason, just relax and capture whats in front of you, especially when the sky/sunset is as lovely as this one was. I do love autumn, I love it when it starts to get dark and the lights seem to get brighter and it gets to that stage when a coat is completely necessary. Ahhh, autumn!

Wish I'd remembered to use a tripod though, as my hands are terrible for being incredibly shaky and quite a few times I had to use gates or walls for support and to minimise shakiness in the images. I do live near a variety of London's most famous landmarks, and a few of them are featured in these photographs, I must have looked like a tourist, haha. I think that you can sometimes ignore what is right in front of you if you're not careful, so maybe I need to learn to be more grateful about what where I live has to offer me, inspiration wise.

I'm aware this is a bit of a random post, but I feel like I need to be more proactive when it comes to blogging, so here we are :) a post is a post, and I'm trying my best to post more frequently and not post the same old things. Let me know what you think, I'd love to know and it'll be really helpful to find out the kind of thing I should post in future! Until next time, Rach x x x