Hyde Park

After leaving Imperial, I had lots of time to walk around and explore Kensington. I ultimately decided to walk through Hyde Park, what with its grand entrance just down the road, mostly intended for cars and bikes down the West Carriage Drive. Walking past the grand houses and the Afghan embassy, which still flies the non-Taliban flag, and near the Royal Albert Hall, I entered the park, being greeted by a flurry of bikes trundling past.

Hyde Park is a bit of an oddity in built-up London, surrounded on all sides by major roads in what is possibly the wealthiest part of London. It started out that way, too, when Henry VIII used it as a hunting ground, though after opening in 1637 to the public, it has been host to various concerts, as well as the speeches that occur on Speaker's Corner. Now it's one of the seven Royal Parks of London, and a lovely one at that. I didn't spend too long in Hyde Park - I was more keen to get home and escape the mild heat - but it was enough time for a pleasant stroll along its southern end.

From West Carriage Drive, you can see the Shard and the London Eye peeking out from the skyline, not too far from the Serpentine Gallery, which has been hosting art exhibitions here since 1970. To be specific, this is the site of Serpentine South - a northern branch can be found on the other side of the large body of water that I was approaching - the Serpentine.

The lake was crafted by Queen Caroline in the 1730s, ordering the local River Westbourne to be dammed so that the lake could form. It was the first artificial recreational lake, and is technically formed of two separate bodies of water. One is the Long Water, the other is the Serpentine, though the latter term is more commonly used to refer to the whole site. They've held concerts here before, with the likes of Blur and Pink Floyd, along with the whole Live 8 performance in 2005, playing here. 

I made my way down to the Serpentine's southern bank, wading through a coffee house to realise that I'd unexpectedly timed my visit well - it was the Swim the Serpentine event, and countless people were swimming amongst the ducks across the lake, with organisers watching them from kayaks. A park sign read that swimming wasn't allowed, though they'd clearly made an exception for today. After watching the people for a while, I diverted towards the main path, segregated between pedestrians and cyclists, and somehow missing the Princess Diana memorial fountain. 

The rest of the brief walk was past a series of trees, with the Rose Garden soon coming into view as well, before I made my way out onto the busy roundabout/intersection that is Hyde Park Corner. Across the street lies Green Park, and not too far from it, Buckingham Palace. Otherwise, it's a case of navigating past the endless traffic to get to where you want to go.

 

There's the decorative Queen Elizabeth Gate, emblazoned with a lion and unicorn, which isn't too far from the Statue of Achilles, erected in honour of the Duke of Wellington. Apsley House is just by the roundabout, and is in honour of the Duke, whilst the Wellington Arch stands in the centre of the roundabout, though it's obscured in my photo by the countless trees. Yet there are countless other monuments and statues, these just so happened to be the ones I noticed and photographed. 

From here, my brief stroll through Hyde Park had finished - nothing to blog about, though still decent in its own right. Perhaps I'll visit some more Royal Parks in the future.