We hit the
pavements past St James Paddington then through Kensington Gardens and Hyde
Park to Marble Arch (complete with giant horse head and brightly coloured resin
people) and Speakers’ Corner before we went ‘up the guts’ past Winter
Wonderland and through the ‘gauntlet’ with
scary squirrels – a few tried to run up Bray’s leg and even Roni was a tad
afraid they would leap on her face, Hyde Park Corner then exploring around Wellington
Monument, Wellington Arch, New Zealand Memorial and the Australian War
Memorial.
Brayden’s theory
is that Hyde Park squirrels are like the Mongrel Mob...leave them alone and
they’ll leave you alone. We are guilty of always making clicking sounds at them
and trying to communicate – mistake!
On our merry
way through the Memorial Gates – never knew SO many VC’s awarded to fighters
from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh & Sri Lanka, down Constitution Hill to
Buckingham Palace.
We gazed at
it from the Forecourt with the hordes and took many photos, admired the Queen Victoria
Memorial out the front – especially the giant lions with accompanying working
man and woman gifted from New Zealand...who knew? Bray posed for photos with
the seductive merman on the fountain for good measure – flashbacks of Zoolander anyone? No changing of the
guard today but we eventually saw the changing of the Horse Guard on Whitehall
so felt quite satisfied!
Off down The
Mall for a little after this to look at St James’s Palace before the water, birds, squirrels and
sunshine drew us across the road to St James’s Park. Our first views of the
London Eye and Big Ben from this great location – much excitement. The
abundance of squirrels and some early blossom kept our progress through St
James’s Park relatively slow but the sun was shining and we had snacks so all
was well in the world. On our journey we passed more memorials (Artillery,
National Police, Duke of York, Royal Naval Division, Guards...), Admiralty Arch
and many statues (James Cook, Viscout Wolseley, Lord Mountbatten, Kitchener and
Earl Roberts) before arriving on Horse Guards Parade. From there we passed
through to Whitehall (saw the Horse Guards changing – woohoo!) and made our way
to the Thames.
Past more
imposing government buildings (guarded by statues of voluptuous but tough
looking ladies) and out into the sun across the river from the London Eye. More
pics...then we stumbled upon the Battle of Britain memorial - both of us moved and impressed by the
sculpting and design of it! Our next mission was to find a public restroom – no
easy task! Success near Westminster Bridge where Roni loitered by the random
Boadicea memorial before we walked across the bridge then back toward Big Ben as
the temperature began to drop. Many photos of the Houses of Parliament
(multiple statues of famous men around them – Churchill, Richard Lionheart
etc) and the big guy himself (Ben) before
we wandered around to the Victoria Tower Gardens (infested with puppy photo
shoots and politicians being interviewed for television – weird combo!). Here
we were pleasantly surprised with a statue of a WOMAN – yay for the ladies –
and one who fought for the vote no less...go Emmeline Pankhurst! The next
surprise was The Burghers of Calais
sculpture...we both knew the backstory for this piece and its place in both
English and French history due to the book we bought in Hamburg and have been
reading, classic.
We saw
sculptures in the Abingdon Street Gardens too – along with posted versions of
the newly enacted laws that mean the camping out protesters (Occupy London
Stock Exchange) could be removed/challenged...interesting. Touched the Jewel
Tower then had to climb a fence (admittedly a wee one) to get out as the people
obviously missed our entrance then locked up once we were inside – oops. Past Poet’s Corner and George V to
Westminster Abbey and St Margaret’s church next...then across the road to The
Supreme Court. About now it was getting darker, we were fading and Roni showed
signs of having ‘had enough’ so we began to head in the direction of home.
Along Great
George street past more imposing buildings and back through St James’s Park –
finally saw the pelicans!
We found the
Canada Memorial in the dark, marvelled at ‘cross now’ traffic lights of people
on horses – used to the green man and cyclists but this is a whole other level!
Then passed through Wellington’s Arch all lit up and past the noise, smells and
bright lights of Winter Wonderland through Hyde Park. Keeping a sharp eye out for
foxes (no sightings yet) as well possible in the dark! Our strength was
flagging so we consumed our last mandarins and pushed on through Paddington
towards home.
Time for kai
so we purchased some spicy chicken wings and chips from one of our local fried
chicken places (Sam’s they are
awesome...really helpful and polite to everyone and their wings are well tasty)
before getting home to put our feet up and consume kai before a rest then
bedtime.
SO much
history and ‘sights’ got a little overwhelming at times today – we kept getting
off our planned course by all the things to see! Around every corner is another
old thing that looks imposing or something from a book or movie – it’s crazy
but cool.
