London, East Anglia & Paris
July 16 through July 26, 2000
Adventures of Bill, Linda and Betsy Ross
Day 6, Friday
Kensington, Harrods, Hyde Park
Another beautiful day! We were feeling pleased with ourselves for so quickly learning how to plan our own walking tours, and sat over morning coffee (how I longed for a cup of real drip coffee!) with our maps and tourist paraphenalia. Feeling rested, and a bit stronger after 5 days of regular (make that brutal!) exercise, we plotted a course, sans tube, that would take us south of the nearby parks for a change. So off we went, on foot, through the Kensington Palace gardens, via the Broad Walk, past Princess Di's children's park, and into the palace itself. This was a paid tour, but very well orchestrated. We were given our own hand-held electronic guides, and sent on our way through the halls and galleries--punching in the numbers for the appropriate dialogues. Most memorable here were the musical clock and the royal wardrobe collections with the displays of handmade lace and embroideries! Too bad, but Di's wedding dress was on tour elsewhere. Linda was particularly disappointed by this, but we had plenty of other things to see. No photography was allowed inside.
Bill on the south side of Kensington Palace. Outside again, we rounded the Round Pond, and walked down the southern part of the Kensington gardens to the main road at the southeastern corner of Kensington Gardens. Here we hopped a bus headed east, past the Albert Monument, and hopped off again at Knightsbridge. Finding an alley-wide street of shops, we lunched at the small Mimi Cafe (finally got that egg-mayonnaise sandwich that had tempted my tastebuds at the library).
From here we easily found Brompton Road and Harrod's--a must-do for the first-time tourist. We wandered thru the crowded halls and sales-floors, purchasing very little, but savoring the odors (perfume to bacon!). Linda bought a few small pieces of china for her mother (Royal Doulton, whenever possible, in homage to Hyacinth!). I bought a small Harrod's teddy bear for Martha. It took a while to find our way out to the street--a person can easily get lost and spend a week in Harrod's!).
Harrod's--doesn't fit in the viewfinder! At this point we changed our plans. We had originally included the Victoria and Albert Museum on this tour, but we were still facing a long walk through Hyde Park, so decided to forfeit an attraction that we had too little time to do justice.
We passed back thru our little alley, and re-entered the cafe for a "cuppa." Then we crossed over to the sidewalk a little too west for the Hyde Park Gate (southeast corner) and walked westward until we came to the next Hyde Park entrance. We crossed over Carriage Drive (make that busy street with lots of motor traffic) to Rotten Row--a path whose original name, "route du roi" (route of the king, Henry VIII, to be precise) has suffered the ravages of language-shift. We continued walking westward. Hyde Park is so large that you soon loose site of the urban landscape, and can believe you are in a highly-cultivated countryside. We found the Ring Road to the Serpentine bridge and followed it some time, past large vistas of open park with ancient trees, and past people in various stages of frolic and/or relaxation on the grasses. We came to the bridge at last, and I took a picture looking south along the Serpentine pond (an understatement, for certain--it's much wider than our own Tar River!).
The Serpentine Bridge, looking south We decided not to cross the bridge after all, but to hug the pond on its westward edge, also the eastern edge of Kensington Gardens. This would lead us past the Peter Pan Monument. I learned that Peter Pan was written as a result of conversations in this park between J. M. Barrie (author and resident of Bayswater) and the children in the park. The bronze sculpture was delightful--I especially admired the rabbits peeking out from all around. Here, we took a short rest on a nice shaddy bench.
Betsy pats a rabbit on the Peter Pan Monument Moving on to the rest area (with toilets!) at the northern end of the path, we stopped again to admire the fountains at the end of the Long Water. Then we took a secluded path along the northern edge of the park, still inside the walls, back toward Kensington gardens. This path was called the "Flower Walk" but we saw not one bloom amongst the prolific greenery. At last we spied the children's park, and knew that we had completed our lengthy circuit. Finding a gate back onto Bayswater Road, we crossed back to the Queensway, and back to the hotel.
Bill and Linda rest nearby--along the "Long Water"
Linda was feeling poorly from her cold, tired, and anxious about re-packing for the next day's trip to Norfolk and Norwich. She placed an order for Chinese take-out and stayed in while Bill and I went out to find us some supper. We first tried the Rat and Parrot, where I had earlier admired Bill Steak and Stilton Pie, but it was crowded at the late hour. So we walked on to the Chinese restaurant we had noted earlier between the Bayswater and Queensway tube stations. They were busy, but no waiting line, so we went in and ate the best Shrimp (pardon me, King Prawn) Fried Rice I've ever tasted. We learned that Visa is NOT good everywhere, but luckily Bill had an American Express card, so we didn't have to wash dishes, after all. We ordered another serving for Linda, and walked back. It was late, so after re-packing our own stuff, we went to bed.
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Copyright © 2000 Elizabeth Ross.
The writer has made no attempt to use formal grammar, and the stream-of-consciousness style is no doubt replete with errors. It was a real trip, in every sense of the word, and the reader must forgive the run-on sentences, misplaced modifiers, and simple page layout!
