Friday, May 28, 2004

Underwhelmed in London

Today I spent pretty much the whole day walking around looking at parks - St. James Park, Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens. St. James Park was beautiful. It's a pretty small park with a canal running through it, which is filled with all kinds of waterfowl, including - very oddly - at least five giant, not very shy pelicans. Hyde Park had a lovely rose garden with mounds and mounds of blooms. Other than that, the parks seemed to just be big lawns with trees and the very occasional statue. I'm sad to say I got really bored. I even fell asleep in a lawn chair in Hyde Park - a chair you had to pay to sit in!! I didn't care, though. I was so tired of walking around, and I knew I wouldn't be comfortable on the ground.

The only other sight I visited today was Buckingham Palace. Also mostly a non-sight. I got there too early to see the changing of the guard, and they only let people in late in the summer when the queen leaves. So, I was left to look at the front of a massive, unlovely block of a building.

I'm glad I'll be leaving London tomorrow for Oxford. Hopefully it will tickle my fancy a little bit better.

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