Well, my week in London has just flown by! I’m surprised and sad that my stay is almost at an end. It feels like both yesterday and a year ago that I arrived at Heathrow. Make sense? Just when you start to get used to a place – boom – you’re off. I crammed as much as I could into my short stay. I saw everything I wanted to and experienced so much more.
Enough wistfulness, on to my last day. As it was the last, I decided to walk wherever my feet took me. I started at the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. From there I wandered through the gardens to Kensington Palace. The gardens here are so lush and rich in colour. The English sure know how to garden.
Under a large tree in Hyde Park.
The palace was under construction, so you couldn’t really see most of it. Actually, quite a bit of London is under construction, especially the nicest areas. They are probably in “get it super pretty” mode for the 2012 Olympics.
Kensington Palace, London, England.
I did do the tour of Kensington Palace. They have some “Enchanted princesses” thing going on. They tried to make the rooms all dark and spooky and talk about the tragic history of the royal princess. Honestly, it was cheesy as hell, but in the dim lights, I did get to see some great royal paintings. I was probably there for 45 minutes tops.
A snooty goose in Hyde Park.
I continued to walk around Hyde Park and I hate to say it, but the pigeons are cute! They are all pretty fat too. At the very least, they aren’t hurting. I then came across three young girls practicing their horse riding. It’s pretty cool that you can rent and ride horses in the middle of a city. Not sure how many city parks allow that.
A row of fat pigeons in Hyde Park.
I then walked over to Oxford Street to do a little retail therapy. I bought a couple of nice things in Marks & Spensers. I then went into Selfridges. Holy, it’s like another Harrods. Seriously, I think I have counted at least seven Gucci and Chanel stores. The amount of high-end stores here is ridiculous. There was a lineup to get into the Luis Vuitton store. A lineup! With the amount of shopping done here you would never realize their economy is suffering.
Beautiful old building in London.
I also had the best BLT ciabatta sandwich on a small pedestrian street. The restaurant was called Toast. It was in Mayfair, but it wasn’t too pricey, well for London that is.
It was supposed to rain most of the day. This morning it was cloudy, but then the sun came out and stayed out. What a great last day.
Buckingham Palace.
Black swan in St. James Park.
London skyline from St. James Park.
The London Eye from St. James Park.
Thank you London for a wonderful time. There will be another visit someday.. Cheerio!
…now for Paris!
