And so to London and Hyde Park

So, the obvious place to visit was Hyde Park. This is the view of the Italian gardens.

We continued walking through Hyde Park until we came to Kensington Palace, which is of course where Princess Diana lived after her divorce from Prince Charles. We did the tour of the palace which dates back to William of Orange, and then walked through the room where Princess Diana's evening gowns are on display. Especially poignant were the videos of the Princess obviously enjoying herself at functions where she was wearing the gowns. Such a beautiful, vivacious, young woman with no knowledge of what lay ahead for her. This was also the residence of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones when they were married. That marriage ended in divorce also. This is a shot I took of Kensington Palace. Somehow it will always be associated with unhappiness for me.

We took a stroll down to Speaker's Corner. The symbolism of this corner of Hyde Park where citizens are free to speak on anything at all, including criticism of the government, did not escape me. Britain has much to be proud of, and set a fine example of tolerance for the rest of the world to follow. Unfortunately, all the speakers were preaching religion when we were there, all different of course. I was tempted to point them in the right direction, but somehow I doubt they'd be interested in my atheism. This is Speaker's Corner.


And this is a view of the Serpentine.




My admiration for the British people knows no bounds. The world owes them a huge debt for the institutions they have bequeathed to it. To say nothing of the games, including football. No, not that poofy round ball one, real football, Rugby League.