A Walk in the Park--Day 50

I apologize that this post is a little later than normal. Life is funny sometimes in that it seldom goes the way you planned. But no matter. Today was a lovely and productive day. I made good progress on my Art History paper and did some investigative work on veterinary schools (I'm trying to narrow down my choices and select the things about each school that make it unique and desirable to me). In the afternoon, Lauren and I headed to Hyde Park because both of us needed a break from sitting in front of the computer. Luckily, we had another splendid day weather-wise, so it was quite enjoyable. We just walked along the paths and went whichever way we felt like. First, we stopped at the Albert Memorial, which is really magnificent in the sunlight, especially viewed from the back; we could see the Royal Albert Hall looming behind it, so we got some really nice pictures of both the monument and Albert's namesake music hall. The memorial is interesting because there is a statue at each corner that Lauren and I theorized is a representation of the British colonies at the time of Albert's death. One of them seemed to be India, but the other three were pretty hard to make out.

A picture from the side so you can see the top of the memorial, which I think is particularly ornate.

The front of the memorial. I think this view really highlights how Victoria viewed her husband.

There it is again! The Royal Albert Hall. Man, I never get tired of looking at that building. It's such a beautiful piece of architecture.

We spent the rest of our time at the park making our way to the other side. We planned to meet friends at the Tate Britain art gallery for high tea. We at first decided to take the Tube, but then Lauren suggested taking the bus because she thought it would be easier and cheaper. Well, she was definitely right. We took the 36 bus from Marble Arch (or thereabouts) to Pimlico, and it was great because it was one of those classic double-decker buses, and we got great views of the city from way up there. It wasn't open-air on top, but we did get to sit in the front row, so we had a nice big picture window to look out from. I even got a great picture of the top of the New Zealand War Memorial at the corner of Hyde Park as we passed it.

I'm sorry if the image quality leaves a little to be desired. I took it through a bus window and in not-very-good lighting. Still, I think it's pretty magnificent.

We found Sarah and Elizabeth at Tate Britain and ventured down to the basement restaurant for high tea. It was so lovely! (Pictures forthcoming.) The tea was real loose-leaf tea (I had Darjeeling again), and it came with a selection of savory open-faced sandwiches and sweets. After our light meal, we went upstairs to the Romantic art gallery, which was really fantastic. The Tate Britain has so many great paintings by Turner, Constable, and William Blake as well as other British Romanticists. We need to go back to Tate Britain later for an Art History assignment, but it was nice to get an introduction both so we could see what kinds of things the Tate has and so we could learn how to get there.

When we returned home, we decided that we needed to finish our desserts from the tea on Monday, so we had a little snack party in our kitchen and then spent most of the remainder of the evening talking and watching silly videos on the Internet. We decided that we need to have more days like today before we go home, days during which we visit museums and do things on our "must-see" lists instead of sitting around on our computers and feeling sorry at the end of the trip because there's so much we wanted to do but didn't. Of course, we all know that it is inevitable that we will have unfinished business here, but that's half the fun! It just means that we will have to come back again someday and catch the things we missed the first time around. Heck, some Londoners have things they want to do in their own city but never have, so how much more will visitors find themselves running out of time to do the things they most want to do? Luckily, Thursdays are pretty free for me, so I look forward to repeating excellent days like today next week. For now, I can reflect on what a nice day it was.

Tomorrow is our tour of Chiswick House and its grounds, so I am eager to take some nice photos of the gardens to share with you. I'll try to get the post up a little earlier. As always, thanks for reading, and I'll "see" you all tomorrow.