London — Day five
May 30, 2011
We took the time before our flight to explore nearby Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
One of my larger “misses” as a student was not exploring Hyde Park and seeing Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived. Since it was a short walk from the hotel, we knew we needed to spend some time there, and since we didn’t need to leave the hotel until 1 p.m. for the airport, Monday morning was the perfect time to do it.
We got to the edge of the park at the Albert Gate around 11 a.m. and saw bikes being rented out by Barclay’s (the London bank). We figured they’d started installing these rentals to test their system before next year’s Olympics. Given the rather cheap fees (the bikes for both of us for almost 2 hours cost about $20, which is the cost of one here for the same time), and despite my hesitation (the last time I’d been on a bike, I’d crashed into a tree), we agreed to give them a try. It turned out that we never would have covered the ground that we saw on foot; apparently, the 2 parks combined are almost 500 acres, and we rode most of the perimeter.
We first came across a celebration of the soccer match at Wembley from earlier in the week. While it was being taken down, it was cool to see the scope of the activities.
As I gained confidence on 2 wheels, we rode a large part of the perimeter on the north side of the park. Passing the Victoria Gate, we saw the northern end of the Serpentine and walked our bikes toward the water. The people watching was good there; apparently one gentleman (an actor?) was taking roller blading lessons, which were painful for him but funny for us. Dogs roamed free; as elsewhere in England, leashes weren’t required. Knowing we didn’t have much time, we only rested for a few minutes before heading back to the bike path.
We continued to ride the edge of Hyde Park and finally entered Kensington Gardens, reaching the palace around 11.45 a.m. We found a park bench and enjoyed the sandwiches we’d bought at our breakfast spot that morning, savoring the view of Kensington Palace and the influx of families, more than usual due to school breaks that week. I walked over to the gates and got a few photos of its main entrance; most of the building was hidden as they were doing renovations (and, reportedly, fixing up apartments for William and Kate).
With some reluctance, we jumped back on the bikes and started for the hotel. This was when we started to realize exactly how big the parks were; we left around noon and, after checking in the bikes and walking back (a quick 5 minute walk), we entered the lobby around 12.50 p.m. The cab was already waiting for us when we walked in. We sadly climbed in and said goodbye to my favorite city, until the next time…
