Our first day and night in London did indeed feel like we were camping out. The room at our hotel was reflective of the 40+ degree weather outside. In fact, our RV is much more comfortable in the cold weather. Then again, it could be that our old bones are just not climatized to the English weather. Nevertheless, we pried ourselves out of bed and got started with the day. Being the clever guy I am, I left one of the keys in the slot that keeps the power on and turned up the heat so when we returned at the end of the day, we would have a warm room to settle into. Then off we went. No trip to London would be complete without trying out an iconic London phone booth—no dial tone, but one of many photo ops!
Chris and I met our son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law in the lobby and walked over to a small café in Paddington. Joined by some of the wedding party, we had a hearty breakfast to begin the day. I couldn’t resist the traditional English Breakfast and it was prelude to the entire day–Beans, sausage or bacon, eggs, potato cake, baked tomato, mushrooms, and toast. ‘Can’t go wrong with that. We all decided to meet a little later in the afternoon for a more comprehensive tour of London, but in the meantime, everybody was headed back to their freezers, I mean, hotel rooms to get ready for the day. Chris and I decided to go walk about and we found our way to London’s Hyde Park.
In 1536, my 15th great grand uncle King Henry VIII acquired the manor of Hyde from Westminster Abbey and turned the now 350-acre (originally 620 acres) area into a hunting ground. Over the years it became a gathering place for free speech protesters, duels, an exhibition center and concerts. Along the side of the park for about a mile is an area called Rotton Row, established by William III in 1690. The name was derived from the French “Route du Roi,” meaning “King’s Road,” but eventually was shortened to Rotten Row. In the 1700s, it became a place where the upper class could be seen by society and then an area for horseback riding, which is what we saw as we walked by. All in all, we walked about three miles through the park beginning at the Paddington entrance by the Italian Gardens, ending up in downtown London.
The Italian Gardens were a gift of love from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria around 1860. They are symbolic of romance, which come to think about it, it was very fitting that Chris and I entered there first—we have been in a near life-long romance as soul mates. We were impressed by how dogs got to run free, but remained fairly close to their masters. The Italian Gardens area was serene and beautiful, and even on a Tuesday morning, people were sitting at outside tables having coffee in the 45-degree weather. We even saw an artist capturing the early morning scene. There was much more to the day as we toured London, which will be in another installment. Getting in that night, hoping to have a nice warm room, it just wasn’t to be. Housekeeping took our card out of the slot and turned off the power, meaning cold again!
