12th April 2008
We met up with the Seymour's and secured some cover as the hail past over us and when it was safe we headed off on the tube for our outing to Highgate. Some may think that the Highgate Cemetery is a rather unusual place to visit, but we discovered it on the "Top 10 places to visit in London" lists. Not only are many famous people like Karl Marx buried there, but it is truly a unique experience going there. It is one of the best-known 'garden cemeteries' of the Victorian era. The curving pathways wind between trees and make it a popular place to visit. The cemetery is overrun with plants and trees, and many of the gravestones look like they have been there for centuries. Matt embraced the opportunity to take many photos, some of which turned out great. (You can see some of them on the link on the right side of the blog.)
After visiting the cemetery, we walked back towards central London and discovered Hampstead Heath, which is London's largest ancient parkland, covering 3.2 km² (320 ha; 791 acres). This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, running from Hampstead to Highgate. In the south of Hampstead Heath lies Parliament Hill, which offered pretty decent views of London, although the weather was a bit average. While we were there we saw some cute squirrels, as you will see on the photos.
Deer spotting at Richmond Park
19th April 2008
The following weekend we caught a bus to Richmond Park, which has to be the biggest park we have ever been to. It is a 955 hectare (2,360 acre) urban park near central London, and is Britain's largest urban walled park, as well as the largest of the Royal Parks in London. It is close to Richmond, Ham, Kingston upon Thames, Wimbledon, Roehampton and East Sheen. The park is also famous for its Red and Fallow Deer, although I think we went to the wrong part of it, as we only saw one of them... It was a nice afternoon walk though nonetheless.
A visit to the Royal town of Windsor
26th April 2008
It was a beautiful sunny day for UK and we headed off to catch a train from Paddington Station around 11am. We caught an overground train to Windsor changing trains at Slough and immediately took a liking to the town after getting off the station and walking through the shopping mall, where you are surrounded by the world famous Windsor Castle. We were surprised by how quickly you can walk around Windsor - it's actually not very big.
By the time we had settled in, it was nearing time for lunch, so after a quick look around the main street, we decided the get some lunch at the Crooked House of Windsor... a special little crooked timber-framed building, which is now a gastronomic jewel in Windsor’s crown, serving over 50,000 guests annually.
After lunch we decided that it wouldn't be a trip to Windsor without going inside the Castle. So after a rather boring 45 minutes or so queue we made our way inside. It took a couple of hours to walk through all the amazing rooms inside Windsor Castle, and it was really amazing to see how everything was so well maintained.
Windsor Castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror. The castle's floor area is approximately 45,000 square metres. Together with Buckingham Palace in London and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, it is one of the principal official residences of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends of the year at the castle, using it for both state and private entertaining. Her other two residences, Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle, are the Royal Family's private homes.
As usual, many photos were taken and we even got to annoy a traditional Royal guard and take our photo next to him! You can see some photos on the "Windsor" link on the right side.
Afterwards, we looked through the Lonely Planet guide and walked to a really awesome English pub, where we stopped for a couple of quick pints. People even had their dogs inside too which was a bit strange to us, but since then we've seen quite a few dogs in pubs and other buildings too.
There were many white swans hogging the banks of the River Thames as people were feedings them. We bought a ticket and took a boat ride down the Thames as the sun began to set. It was really relaxing and we're definitely glad we did it. The next stop was a walk across the Thames from Windsor to Eton, a neighbouring town. As it was starting to get late in the day, pretty much everything was beginning to close, but we did manage to walk around quite a bit and get a feel of the place.
After that it was back on the train to London. We ended the day with a quick dinner at home of baked beans on toast.
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