Friday Walkabout
Five hours of walking through Hyde Park and Regents
Park. My legs are killing me.
It was a stunning day - hot, sunny, and clear. I
decided I needed to do something outside, so I walked through Hyde Park and
Regents Park.
Before we get to the parks, lets see the meerkats.
We'll have more Meerkats later. Stay tuned.
I started out at Hyde Park, which has a man-made lake - The Serpentine - running through the middle.
It's a beautiful park on a day like today.
I won't bother you with endless pictures of the park. It's just more pictures of ducks and geese and all that. I ran across this old couple on a park bench, reading the paper.
The British more than many seem to be a dichotomous bunch. They have some great examples of best and worst in one place. They have some of the best TV, and some of the worst. Some of the best music and some of the worst. And possibly the best newspapers in the world with possibly some of the absolute worst.
At the end of Hyde Park is speaker's corner, and Marble Arch on the other side of the street.
In Canada I'm accustomed to a smorgasbord of place name references. Streets and towns are named after the places the settlers came from, and they came from all over. But in Britain the place names are much more uniformly British. They have, for me, a wonderful ring to them (no pun intended).
I wandered through some hoity toity neighbourhoods and saw more of a familiar sight.
Maple trees are a pretty common sight here, which isn't too much of a shock. But it is a bit weird to see our national symbol everywhere you turn. The maple leaves and Canada geese are a nice little reminder of home. It's natural, subtle way to be reminded of where you came from. Poor American buggers have to rely on McDonalds and Starbucks for the same effect.
Up the road from Hyde Park is Regents Park, another enormous park with ponds and row boats, ducks and geese, grass and trees.
And at the north end of the park, the London Zoo.
The London Zoo, like so many these days, has tried to avoid becoming an unpleasant anachronism by using itself as a forum for conservation topics and engaging in breeding programmes. I won't go into my personal opinions on zoos - suffice to say that, on the whole, I was glad in the end that I paid their fairly steep admission price.
It's almost worth it for Lord Snowdon's famous aviary alone.
Those aren't bushes inside, they're full grown trees. There is a walkway that goes through the middle of it. You enter at either end through a door and then a hanging curtain of chain that keeps the birds in. Once inside, you are part of the environment. Peacocks jump out of the trees and land beside you. Ibis's perch high above you. It's a surreal and extraordinary experience.
Any Canadian who watched the Friendly Giant as a child will know why I thought this was funny.
And lets close today's entry with more Meerkats.
Then it was back to get ready for the night's shows...
Before we get to the parks, lets see the meerkats.
We'll have more Meerkats later. Stay tuned.
I started out at Hyde Park, which has a man-made lake - The Serpentine - running through the middle.
It's a beautiful park on a day like today.
I won't bother you with endless pictures of the park. It's just more pictures of ducks and geese and all that. I ran across this old couple on a park bench, reading the paper.
The British more than many seem to be a dichotomous bunch. They have some great examples of best and worst in one place. They have some of the best TV, and some of the worst. Some of the best music and some of the worst. And possibly the best newspapers in the world with possibly some of the absolute worst.
At the end of Hyde Park is speaker's corner, and Marble Arch on the other side of the street.
In Canada I'm accustomed to a smorgasbord of place name references. Streets and towns are named after the places the settlers came from, and they came from all over. But in Britain the place names are much more uniformly British. They have, for me, a wonderful ring to them (no pun intended).
I wandered through some hoity toity neighbourhoods and saw more of a familiar sight.
Maple trees are a pretty common sight here, which isn't too much of a shock. But it is a bit weird to see our national symbol everywhere you turn. The maple leaves and Canada geese are a nice little reminder of home. It's natural, subtle way to be reminded of where you came from. Poor American buggers have to rely on McDonalds and Starbucks for the same effect.
Up the road from Hyde Park is Regents Park, another enormous park with ponds and row boats, ducks and geese, grass and trees.
And at the north end of the park, the London Zoo.
The London Zoo, like so many these days, has tried to avoid becoming an unpleasant anachronism by using itself as a forum for conservation topics and engaging in breeding programmes. I won't go into my personal opinions on zoos - suffice to say that, on the whole, I was glad in the end that I paid their fairly steep admission price.
It's almost worth it for Lord Snowdon's famous aviary alone.
Those aren't bushes inside, they're full grown trees. There is a walkway that goes through the middle of it. You enter at either end through a door and then a hanging curtain of chain that keeps the birds in. Once inside, you are part of the environment. Peacocks jump out of the trees and land beside you. Ibis's perch high above you. It's a surreal and extraordinary experience.
Any Canadian who watched the Friendly Giant as a child will know why I thought this was funny.
And lets close today's entry with more Meerkats.
Then it was back to get ready for the night's shows...
Posted: Fri - June 13, 2003 at 09:05 AM Meltdown Out and About Email Comments
Quick Links
Calendar
| July 2003 | ||||||
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
Categories
Archives
XML/RSS Feed
Statistics
Total entries in this blog: 34
Total entries in this category: 17
Published On: Jul 02, 2003 09:07 AM
Total entries in this category: 17
Published On: Jul 02, 2003 09:07 AM