Blogs from Highgate, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Our Highgate Literary Walk on 2 May finished at Waterlow Park – we liked its beautiful scenery of the park – and we decided to visit there on 9th May. We took the No.41 bus to Archway and walked up on the Highgate Hill High Street towards the park. We strolled through main ponds, looked at waterfowls, aquatic plants and explored the park in the sunny afternoon. We found the park was situated on the hill; after climbing up towards Highgate Village, it offered breathtaking views of central London and skyscrapers. We also found the cemetery and Gothic architectural style of buildings on the Westside of the park, which we visited the previous Sunday. While looking at the nature around the lakes, we found a very intriguing scene – there were a couple of turtles sitting ... read more

Mark took a day off on 24th March. We recently walked on the Parkland Walk Northside between Muswell Hill and Highgate Wood whilst making a complete journey between home and Highgate Wood/Queen’s Wood via Alexandra Park. On 24th March, we decided to take a bus from Hornsey to Muswell Hill and tube back from Finsbury Park so that we could do a complete journey on Parkland Walk via Highgate Wood. Parkland Walk is a disused railway route that used to run between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace and is currently known as Parkland Walk Local Nature Reserve and supports a remarkable range of habitats and wildlife. After getting off the bus, we started the course from Muswell Hill. It was great to see surrounding residential areas and London’s skyscrapers beyond; we were able to see skyscrapers ... read more

Highgate Cemetery. Fairyland with an edge. The padlocked wrought-iron gates barred our way. In the inner courtyard, a flock of twenty-something pigeons took flight as one, filling the silence with a flutter of wings, and the emptiness with a scratch of charcoal grey. In the eastern cemetery a skinny fox sauntered amongst the tombstones, turning to look back at us, tongue lolling from the corner of his mouth, before he disappeared from sight into the depths with the dead ones. Highgate is high theatre, a feat of excessive Victoriana - a feast for the dead and the living alike. A custodian arrived; setting his shoulder to the gates, leaning his body into them, he pushed them open. Silence. Once hearses filled with flowers, pulled by black horses adorned with feather plumes, waited here. The cemetery lies ... read more

So after 6 memorable months in South America we flew into JFK, New York City. We decided to head to NY after hearing Judy, Steve and Meaghan (Jay's parents and sister) were going to be there for 5 nights. We arrived late in the evening and went straight to our hotel in Times Square. A steaming hot shower, king size bed and 50" plasma (a little bit of luxury), heaven after 6 months of hostels in Sth America. Can't really tell you too much you would not already know about NYC. It truely is a concrete jungle, massive, busy and very impressive. With only 5 days we hit the subways and tour buses to get around the city and see some sights. Normally we wouldn't do the tour bus thing but given the size of the ... read more

Stephanie: Homemade chili Catherine: Guacamole dip, chips, and litte cream cheese rolls Me: Sweet cornbread Catherine, Steph, and I sit on the air mattress and eat while we watch The Family Stone, which I'd never seen before, but rather enjoyed (surprisingly). I really wanted to see Journey's opening act, but we miss it somehow. Journey rules, y'all. Jennifer Hudson sings the best version of the national anthem I think I've ever heard. I get all teary-eyed, probably because I've been feeling all patriotic lately. Anyway, it's a great game. I'm pulling for the Cardinals, because they'd be such unlikely winners. We don't get ANY of the Superbowl commercials here! As the game continues, snow begins to fall in London. And it doesn't stop. I keep running to the window and checking out the accummulation, saying, "Snow, ... read more