Hyde Park

In order to test out our new winter coats, we decided to tube to Hyde Park and wander round admiring the autumn leaves. We were not disappointed, London does have exceptional nice parks, and as the sun was shining for the first time in awhile it was very pleasant. We felt a bit left out though as we didn’t have a kid or a dog. 

There are a few really cool statues in Hyde Park, and in the area we visited (which is technically called Kensington Park), these include the Peter Pan Statue, the Albert memorial and the Italian fountains, which flows out to the Serpentine river.  

The Peter Pan statue is here as this was where the prelude to Peter Pan (“Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens”) was set. There are so many little benches and secluded areas where you can imagine someone coming to, to write a book so its really nice to see.

The Albert memorial is really extravagant and quite out of style with the rest of the memorials around London. It was built to commemorate Prince Albert when he died of typhoid in 1861 and was commissioned by his wife Queen Victoria.

 

The central part of the memorial is surrounded by the elaborate sculptural Frieze of Parnassus which depicts 169 individual composers, architects, poets, painters, and sculptors. At the corners of the central area, and at the corners of the outer area, there are two allegorical sculpture programs: four groups depicting Victorian industrial arts and sciences (agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing), and four more groups representing Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas at the four corners, each continent-group including several ethnographic figures and a large animal. (A camel for Africa, a buffalo for the Americas, an elephant for Asia and a bull for Europe.)

As I said, it’s massive and very elaborate. It sits opposite the Royal Albert Hall which is still being used as a popular music venue.  

And finally at the garden’s north-western end (originally the inflow of the River Westbourne) there is an area known as "The Italian Garden", there are four fountains and a number of classical sculptures, and as it was such a beautiful day there were people outside soaking up the rays.

We were entertained by the many squirrels and the piles of leaves, and kept full by Lou’s home made ANZAC’s (just so we weren’t totally British).

And best of all, our coats worked…. 

Highlight: The sunshine, the cool dogs and the pretty colours  

Lowlight: The line for a cup of tea being too long, and getting sore feet from walking.
Interesting fact: There was a temporary exhibition on while we were there and it was basically a selection of big mirrors that were reflecting different things, quite cool.