London - Hyde Park 6/25/2013

It was a beautiful sunny day today. Not usual for London, but we got lucky. Today we are going for a walk in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, a huge green space in central London. It turns out that late June is a great time of year to be in England. Comfortable days and cool nights, we left the windows open and it felt like we were living in natural air conditioning. The flowers are in full bloom and Wimbledon is happening on the other side of the city. We aren't going to watch any tennis; but it's a great day for a walk in the park. Since our flat on Petersham Place was in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, we were situated very close to the Kensington Gardens.

Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park
The entire group left the flat at our usual early morning departure time and headed through the city to the nearby park. We entered the park, bypassing Kensington Palace with our ultimate destination, Buckingham Palace, on the other end of the park. As I was prevented from taking photos in Westminster Abbey and the Churchill War Rooms, I am back in the picture taking mode today.
A short distance into the park along Kensington Road, we spotted the Albert Memorial off in the distance. Let's head in that direction.
This monument was commissioned by Queen Victoria upon the death in 1861 of her beloved husband, Prince Albert. He was very beloved, because they had nine children together. She went into mourning, wore black for he rest of her life, and spent a ton of money on this memorial. It may have made her feel better, but it certainly didn't help him much.
"The memorial is 176 feet (54 m) tall, took over ten years to complete, and cost £120,000 (the equivalent of about £10,000,000 in 2010)." The memorial contains eight marble sculptures: four depicting the Victorian industrial arts surrounding the Gothic tower with Albert on his throne in the center; and four on the corners of the outside gold-gilded fence depicting Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Victoria's reign from 1837 to her death in 1901 was the longest of any British monarch. She was queen during the height of the British empire which is definitely reflected by this monument. Restoration work took place recently beginning in 2006, so the monument looked like it had been built recently. You can only appreciate a monument for so long, even one as over the top as this one.
We moved on deeper into the park walking toward the Serpentine, a 40-acre body of water that separates Kensington Gardens from Hyde Park. If there is one thing that the Brits really do well, I would have to put gardening at the top of the list. Anne and I had taken a couple of walks by ourselves on previous afternoons in the area surrounding our Petersham Place flat. We were continually drawn to the beauty of the many small gardens outside numerous central London dwellings. OK, if you can afford to live in central London, you probably have enough cash to take care of a garden. Even so, every garden was done with style and taste. You would think there would be at least one oddball out there somewhere. The Brits also prided themselves on the care and beauty of the gardens in the park.
We reached the Serpentine and stopped for some refreshments before moving on. Not quite lunchtime, we stuck with coffee and water. Too early for a pint considering the alcohol we consumed last night. Ahhhhh! It was a beautiful day, blooming flowers everywhere, the swans were out in numbers, and here we are, relaxing on vacation in the middle of Hyde Park, thousands of miles away from work. What a life. If retirement was like this every day, I would gladly accept a pink slip tomorrow. Although I personally could have gone and reclined underneath a tree and napped through the rest of the day, there was much more to see.
We jumped on 'The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk' on our way out of the park. This is a seven-mile (11 km) trail that "goes between Kensington Gardens, Green Park, Hyde Park, and St. James Park." It is marked with 90 plaques and was constructed at a cost of £1.3 million. As befitted her exalted standing with the Royals, no members of the Royal Family were present at its opening. They were a vindictive lot. The day before, while we were at Westminster Abbey, I asked our intrepid tour guide what she felt British opinion was concerning Diana. She felt that Diana had gotten married too young, was high maintenance, and wasn't held in high esteem by many Brits. That rather surprised me considering that stiff she was married to and the improvement to their blood line she provided (William and Harry).
If you followed the entire route of this memorial walk, you would pass Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, St. James Palace, and Spencer House, all part of Diana's life. Londoners would like to think this is "one of the most magnificent urban parkland walks in the world." On this day, I certainly would agree. Again, beautiful gardens everywhere. We were headed toward Buckingham Palace.
There it was, the famous Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, it is not open to the public currently, although it is in late summer. All we could do is peak through the fence and stare at the building. It's the official residence and working place of the constitutional monarchy; state visits, garden parties, and all that stuff. Like Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace is owned by the state. The British Government spends approximately £15 million a year on it's upkeep. You've got to keep up appearances. Amazing building from the outside, but I won't bore you with the history of the building since we can't get in. We've done a lot of walking today and it's time for lunch. We decide to go to Prezzo for some Italian food and a pint.