first weeks in london

buckingham palace

images
the first morning we arrived in london we had a few (8) hours to kill so we had a wander around the city a bit and walked past buckingham palace

1
this is buckingham palace where the queen hangs out, sometimes.
there are guards out the front who stay very still and change every once in awhile but we weren't around for long enough to see.

2
this is a statue of queen victoria that is just outside the front of buckingham palace
from the size of the steps at the front you can get some idea of how large it actually is. maybe one of us should have got in the picture, it may that would have made it easier to understand the size.

3
these are some flowers that are in st. james park on the way to the thames.

hyde park

images
next on our first day we walked through hyde park (not very far at all from buckingham palace)

this is the whole of hydepark so you have some idea of the total size when looking at my pictures

1
this is us in hyde park. please excuse our crazed look and slightly messed up hair. we had been on a plane thirteen hours that had arrived in london that morning at six.

1
here are some guys in fancy clothes riding horses through the park. that is an interesting factor in london, all the parks have quite wide horseways where you can ride your horse.
after all, in a huge city like london everyone has a horse, of course (?!?)

2
heres a walkway in the park. theres a running track, a bike track and on the right is the horseway.

3
there is a little island and paddle boat hire in the serpentine in hyde park. this picture, together with the aerial shot and the map hopefully gives some idea of how big the park actually is (ie very)

4
this is view across the serpentine back towards to city. you can see "the clubhouse" on the right, which looks like a very expensive restaurant (or something similiar)

5
heres ren in the park. in the background is the albert memorial.

golders green

image
golders green is a nothern suburb where we first stayed when we came to london.

1
this is a picture of the hostel we stayed in.
it is a beautiful building (as most are in london)
a lot of rich people live around in these streets. the houses are fantastic.
it is quiet and near hampstead heath.

2
this is where the shops are in golders green.
more nice buildings in the streets.

belsize park

image
belsize park is where we stayed after the youth hostel in golders green

1
here is house we stayed in. there are a bundle of "rooms" in this short let place. another nice building.

2
this is view down the street we walk to get to the shops and the tube station

3
here's another side street on the way

4
this is our local pub. "the rat and parrot".
they have lots of nice beers but the only cider is strongbow on tap so ren doesn't like it much.

others things to looks at!
next stop, a day trip to winchester
index