Catchy title, eh? It actually will tie in, so bear with me! As a strong hint though, we didn’t actually take seven walking tours on Monday, but we did take ONE tour that used the seven deadly sins as a backdrop to lead us around part of London. Read on!

You may recall that Felicity and I did a walking tour of the City of London when we were here in April. As that was fun and interesting, she asked if I was interested in doing another one on this trip and, naturally, I was. Based on when it fit into our schedule, she narrowed down the available options from the same tour company, London Walks, and we landed on The Seven Deadly Sins – the Capital Vices. In a city as big as London (did you know it was the first city in the world to reach a population of 1 million+?) and with such a long history, it makes sense that the seven deadly sins had to come into the mix at some point, right? Our very helpful guide, Ulrike, promised us a tour full of good information, sinful details, and even a bit of “adult language.” But did she deliver???

No one will be surprised to learn that I once again opted to walk to our starting point in Covent Garden rather than taking the tube there and I don’t regret it one bit! The weather was a bit cooler (mostly due to the breeze), but still very sunny and pleasant, especially when walking a couple of miles. With all my walking to the things we’d booked, I was reminded on this particular walk that our hotel has been nicely located for everything, even if it hasn’t felt QUITE as central as some of the other Hub hotels. That said, I’d still recommend it as a very central place to stay (depending on which parts of the city you’re planning to see) and I’d likely stay here again.

But enough about logistics – let’s look at the first few photos of the day instead.

A couple of neat shots of Covent Garden station, which I almost always avoid as it tends to be VERY busy, given how much foot traffic this area gets.

A couple more views of Covent Garden before heading back to the station to meet Felicity and the tour group.

Felicity was in the process of paying Ulrike for our tour (with these London Walks tours, you book online, but pay the guide in person) and shortly after that, she pulled us together and got things going. She said she’d have a story to tell us at each stop, with each story focusing on a different deadly sin, plus added bonus stories that would pretty much all focus on lust (I guess lust is the cause of many things in London!).

Ulrike shared a LOT of cool info with us on the tour and she did indeed deliver a sin-based story at every stop, so she absolutely made good on her promise to us. She had great energy and shared so much with us that I would never have kept track of it without literally taking notes (which I did consider – the things I do for my blog!). Since I DIDN’T actually take notes (and since I’m finally finishing this most more than a few months after the tour), I can only share a few bits and bobs (plus photos, of course), which will hopefully inspire you to take your own tour with Ulrike the next time you’re in London!

As you can see, we had a good group for the tour! One of our first stops was at St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden (still not THE St. Paul’s), also called the Actors Church. The statue is called The Conversion of St. Paul and was unveiled at the church in 2015.

At this stop, we learned about Thomas De Quincey, famous for being a writer and for his addiction to laundanum.

Next up was a lesson about Thomas Rule outside Rule’s, which was opened in 1798 and claims to be the oldest restaurant in London. Felicity and I didn’t eat there, but I’d be interested in trying it sometime.

I find that when I’m on walking tours like this, it’s fun to hang back a bit and get shots of the group. Especially when we get to walk around in London sunshine!

A couple of shots of the group near one of my London happy places, Trafalgar Square. So glad the sun shined for us on this tour!

A couple of angles of the equestrian statue of King Charles I (you can just about see Trafalgar Square in the background of the photo on the left).

What an excellent walking tour this was! Not only was the weather pretty perfect for it, but the content was great, Ulrike was an informative and fun guide, and I got to learn some neat facts about places I’ve seen many times in my favorite city. Definitely a fun way to spend a couple of hours. 🙂

Without any specific plans for the rest of the day, we decide to hop on the tube to make our way to The Who Shop. I’ve only been there once or twice before and, to be honest, there’s not really as much novelty in going to a dedicated Doctor Who store now as there was a couple of decades ago when I first started coming to the UK, but we decided it would be a good way to kill some time and to perhaps find some goodies. It’s a bit of trek to get to its East London location, but as is almost always the case, the tube did a good job of getting us most of the way there, while a local bus did the rest. I wasn’t shocked to see that their prices are still quite high, but there’s still a glimmer of excitement to walk into a place that specializes in Who product. And Felicity did buy a couple of little vinyl figures, so we gave them some business, too! One of these days, I’ll plan ahead to book a viewing of the small museum they have at the back of the store, the entrance to which is a TARDIS. It has limited opening hours and you have to book ahead to guarantee entry, so it was a bust for us this time.

Post-Who Shop, we decided to wander back towards the nearest tube station, hoping to find a pub along the way where we could rest our feet and have a lil’ drink. Just before reaching the station, we found The Queens, which felt like a good old-fashioned local pub for local people. It was populated by a handful of what I can only assume were locals, enjoying their mid-afternoon drinks on a Monday, laughing and talking loudly. It was perhaps a little TOO local for my taste, but hey, when in Rome. 🙂

Everyone was really interested in what was on TV.

As we made our way back to civilization, I believe it was Felicity who suggested we wander over to St. Christopher’s Place. We had made a visit to the big, new-ish HMV on Oxford Street and then realized we were ready for a meal, which meant that we, of course, weren’t walking by ANYTHING that looked good or too non-touristy, so she whipped out the ol’ pocket computer, which led us to St. Christopher’s. It’s a neighborhood/plaza with bright buildings and flowers, shops, and restaurants, so after a bit of wandering, we landed in Sofra, a Turkish place that had a tasty-looking menu. While it did feel a little like a big chain (their website shows there are four locations, so not a one-off, but definitely not a big chain), I have to say that the food was really tasty. I had a great lamb dish, which isn’t something I’ve even eaten very many times, but it was super juicy and flavorful, so I definitely left satisfied.

The hummus, lamb dish, and pie were all great! I’d eat there again. 🙂

And that wrapped up our Monday in London! It wasn’t too full of a day, but between a walking tour, some shopping, and a nice dinner, I think we made the most of it. And now that I’m FINALLY wrapping up the posts from this trip (only five or so months after getting back), you’ll hopefully get to read about our last full day soon. 🙂