Explorations #1

Oh dear. Its 12:00. I'm tired after a long weekend and not really feeling the writing thing, but I promised to keep ya'll up to date on my whereabouts, and I won't let you down! Plus, I made some pretty cool discoveries this weekend.

On Friday, with handy dandy Eyewitness Travel guide book in hand, I ventured out on a personal walking tour from Mayfair to Belgravia. I hopped on the Piccadilly line for my first solo adventure on the Tube and took it to the Greenpark stop where, upon exiting, I nearly ran right into The Ritz Carlton Hotel and a big green plywood wall leading the way to Buckingham palace. As neither were on Eyewitness' itinerary for the day, I walked on but was sure to note their proximity to The Crofton (home) in preparation for my inevitable return (especially to one particular possibly overly posh hotel).

Following Eyewitness' directions and still shaking my head over what was surely a huge mistake in passing up The Ritz and Buck House (as I have learned Buckingham is called), I walked up Berkeley street, which I soon found to be full of intriguing art galleries, toward Berkeley Square - a lovely small park with numerous attractive British men in suits on their lunch break lounging on benches and sprawling on the grass. I admired them for a while and then turned my attention to the beautiful houses that surround the park (many of which date back to the 18th century). At the very north end of the park, in one of these houses, I noticed what appeared to be a number of business lunches occurring on a lovely balcony. There was no sign or identifying feature of any sort that would indicate how one would go about dining here. Clearly it must be exclusive. Further research has revealed that I had indeed stumbled across a piece of wonderful English snobbery ( I say this lovingly ofcourse): Morton's, a private club smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk!

After gawking a bit at Morton's, which seemed so lovely yet out of place on the balcony of a beautiful Georgian home in the middle of the city, I continued around Berkeley square and onwards with my journey. Next, I came to Shepherd's Market - a beautiful, tiny maze of pedestrian only pathways hidden behind a discrete archway full of fantastically aromatic restaurants, and enticing shops and galleries. After taking a full assessment of Shepherd's Market, I decided to move on.

From here, my walk lead me down some beautiful residential streets lined with heart achingly sweet houses.

And of course a pub or two... which were bustling even at this odd hour on Friday

A ways down from the pub, there was a cluster of older, finely dressed gentlemen standing outside what was either a quaint hotel or a rather swanky residence. One of the men stopped me and asked if I was "touring." I said, "well, I'm on a walk, just wandering, if that's what you mean." He laughed at the dumb American I had proven myself to be, yet again, and asked where I was from. Long story short, after a lovely conversation of small talk and chit-chat, John revealed that he was quitting his job at this hotel or residence - I still don't know which - to become the head of the entire UK branch of the charity St Vincent de Paul. He invited me to come and help a few days a week, so I took his number down. We'll see what happens with that. 

Anyway, continuing on,  I came to yet another breathtaking park. The English certainly have a way with parks! 

I admired the park for a bit, and then continued on my way. Walking through the park, I found myself deposited on a street lined with designer shops: Christian Louboutin, March Jacob's, Balenciago ... my mouth began to water ... although maybe I was just hungry. Further on,  the walk turned rather dry. I passed more residencies, the US embassy, a statue of FDR (which I couldn't find, but apparently I passed it), and a very busy street. Before reaching my next place of interest according to Eyewitness: Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, I noticed a funny little monument. Closer examination revealed that it was a memorial to all animals who have ever served in war for the British or allied troops. Now, I'm into animal rights as much as the next gal, but this seemed a little extreme...

  

Giggling, I made my way to Hyde Park where the Speaker's Corner: a place where anyone with a soap box (literally) can stand and make a speech on any topic (I later learned that the exceptions are the current church and the monarchy) on Sundays. As it was Friday, the corner was rather subdued, so I kept going.

I got lost on the many criss-crossing, winding pathways of Hyde Park numerous times, but eventually I ended up at the Boat House as Eyewitness instructed where, contrary to their suggestion, I did not rent a rowboat to take out onto the Serpentine. Instead, as I was feeling famished, I dodged all kinds of aquatic aves and made my way toward the Serpentine Bar and Kitchen (aka Dell Cafe says Eyewitness) where I had a beautiful lunch of butternut squash soup and iced coffee.

Notice how dense the bread is. It was like savory pound cake!

Such a beautiful space. The picture doesn't really do it justice. I love the way the tables and chairs are miss matched. Not to mention the gorgeous view.

And they do clever things like keeping their condiments in cake pans. 

I'd say The Serpentine was a winner (though a little pricey)!

As I walked over a lovely old stone bridge on my way to exiting Hyde Park, there was a beautiful view, so I snapped a shot.

Then, I heard some people having a discussion that went along the lines of "I'll take your picture if you take mine," and I thought I'd get in on the action. 

They were very accommodating. 

From here, my walk was much less interesting mostly comprising of getting lost and having to double back on myself while wielding my rather large and obvious tour guide book. I passed many more stately houses that all began to look the same after a while, and soon grew tired. At this point I had been walking for 5 hours! Luckily I was able to stumble across the tube stop I needed to use to get home so go home I did. 

Some other images from my weekend:

Windsor Castle - the Queen's favorite residence

Albert Memorial

Royal Albert Hall

Tower of London and part of the old Roman wall (on left) from 55 BC

A beefeater at the Tower of London

A Raven. A colony moved in when there were so many executions. Now legend has it that if they leave, the country will fall... so there is a caretaker who clips their wings... cheating