Given that I knew people rode horses in the park -- there was some benefit to reading all those cheesy historical romance novels -- I guess I should have been prepared for how big it is as you obviously need a bit of space if you are going to enjoy a decent ride. Or at least I suppose you need some space but I don't know much about genteel horse riding being that I'm from the Wild West. I looked it up and the combined area of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens is just under 640 acres or about 1 square mile.
It has just about everything you can think of for a park: lakes for rowing, paths for bikes, paths for people, paths for horses, rose gardens, flower meadows, trees, ducks, statues, monuments, fountains, etc. The Children's playground looks particularly impressive and I do wish that one of you lived here so I could borrow an appropriately aged child for the afternoon and "supervise" them on the pirate ship.
Queen Victoria's memorial to Albert is also very impressive but I think they frown upon people playing on it. It is right across the street from Royal Albert Hall where A, N and I all agreed we really need to go to a concert. Maybe we'll go to the Proms this summer. We do need to go back to the Park to see the Rose Garden in bloom and tour Kensington Palace when it reopens later this month. So much to see! We are going to try to do or see something every two weeks (fortnightly if you are English...they actually still say that here) which is touristy or interesting. I think it is a great goal and I don't think we can possibly run out of things.
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| Albert Memorial |
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| Royal Albert Hall |
I have to admit that our 5 mile walk has tired me right out! All that fresh air, and perhaps a few too many pints watching the rugby yesterday (Go Wales!), have got me thinking a pre-dinner nap is in order!
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