Hyde Park and Kensington Palace

LD 22 July
Day 23

Hyde Park and Kensington Palace

Today is a rest day, no work and no extensive touring around the country—just an afternoon trip to Hyde Park, Kensington Palace and the Mayfair embassy district.

These parks are really impressive. We took the tube to Green Park, just north of Buckingham, then walked a short distance to Hyde Park. The Speaker’s Corner is around to the northwest side and we found it packed with people, many of whom were listening to speakers decked out in various forms of costume or props (flags, pirate outfits, blue jeans, house dress, etc.) One speaker said “…that’s what women really want, a man to put them in their place….” We left before the riot started!!! (just kidding!) Others talked about race, religion and various topics—often without anyone stopping to listen.

After Speaker’s Corner we walked quite a distance through the park to the Kensington Palace, which contains the State Apartments, home to the royal family for 900 years. The building was quite ordinary on the outside (we didn’t go in), of dark brick. However, the gardens were extravagant and even contained some huge metal flowers to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death.

Later we took the tube to Bond Street and turned southward to explore the Mayfair embassy district. The building here were quite unique and attractive—not just the embassies, but many of the others as well. The Qatar embassy was an old, red brick structure right on the street—reminiscent of an old school house.

Grovsnor Square includes several embassies, Canada, Italy and USA. The latter was encased in cement barricades and iron fencing. I don’t know if it is just construction or security measures, but it definitely changed the character of the area. Also there is a nice statue of FDR and a memorial to all those who died on 9/11.

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