Novel Travels: Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones's Diary was published in Great Britain in 1996. In the summer of 1998, when it reached the height of its popularity in the States, I had the good fortune to be studying abroad in London. Everyone reads on the Tube and Bridget Jones's Diary was one of my favorite Tube reads. Fitting since London is Bridget's stomping grounds.

Here are the places I would go to experience Bridget's London.

Holland Park and the surrounding area. Mark Darcy's house is in Holland Park, which is a subsection of Kensington. I would wander around Notting Hill (also, because that is where Syracuse University-London was located, so I was there weekly during the summer and miss it), Portobello Road--skipping the market which was not worth it, just old T-shirts really, at least in 1998--and Westbourne Grove. Of course I would run through Kensington Park Gardens and run through Holland Park, just to see it.

Other locations in the book are her parent's home and Edinburgh, Scotland, where she goes for the festival and does not do much.

There's more to Bridget Jones than just the novel: there are the movies. In Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget walks across Tower Bridge and around Piccadilly Circus. Both are required stops for visiting London. One attraction visitors sometimes miss is Primrose Hill--near Regent's Park--which offers a great view of London. On a side note, I'm convinced the big fight scene took place at the Greek restaurant I ate at in Bayswater, near the Greek Orthodox Church. I can't confirm that or anything. It was there in 1998.

As for the second book, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. I do not recommend getting sent to a Thai jail just to recreate the book or movie. Not worth it. And there are not many places in the second book that are not featured in the first book or movie. The one thing I would do is visit Hyde Park and see the Italian fountains near the Serpentine Gallery where Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy get into a fight.

I could go on, but it is much easier to direct people to this Bridget Jones archive website and this map. And I highly recommend reading the 2005 and 2006 Independent columns.