I had planned to get up at a decent time, go for a run, run some errands, then hit up some parks. However, since I stayed up late last night climbing out on roofs and what not, I over slept and didn't get up until 11. Whoops! Oh well. I decided to head out right away and try to go to every park in London, but first I had to run by Zara to return some clothes, so I didn't get to my first park until around 1pm.
The first park on my list was Regent's Park. I had never been here so that is why it was first. When I got off the tube I didn't know really which way to go, so I winged it and started walking. At one point I decided to cross the street since a bunch of others were. Then I saw this gate that was open and the people around me looked like they were going to a park and they went in it and there were people coming out, so naturally this must be the park. Once I got in the gated area I notice that it is really small and then I looked over and saw the park across the street. I realized I had walked into a gated garden. Pretty much every residental area has a private garden that you have to have a code or key to get in. Well about that time I walked up to another gate, but it is closed and I had no clue how the handle works. The Brits have really weird doors, handles, and locks so I just assumed it was another weird one. Oh well, I started to walk back to where I came in. Also there was another girl doing the same thing I am and we start chatting and both realize that we are both Americans and spending our day at the park. We walked to the next gate and yep, it is closed as well. Neither of us had any clue on how to get out and at that time a few other people had walked up and yep, they didn't know how to open it either. Great, I am locked in a park. So I start thinking to myself, I could totally climb this fence and I start making a plan. At the same time, Katelyn (the American) has walked away to ask some other people. Luckily she found this man who had a key. He laughs at us and asks how in the world we got in to this private garden. Well lesson learned, don't walk into random open doors. Such a funny experience, but I did make a friend!
Once we were free, Katelyn and I both headed towards the park. We just walked around for awhile taking in the sights and got to know each other. She is a first grade teacher from Denver, Colorado who is spending her summer vacation traveling around. She had been on a cruise with her family and then stayed in London and was just going to go whereever she felt like it for the next 3 weeks. She didn't have much plans yet except to go to Prague on Saturday.
Regent's Park!!
Hey I know you, didn't we get locked in garden one time in London and then walk miles around parks in London?
yep! What a fun day and random adventures!
At one point when we were walking Emma called and she had just gotten out of class. Her school is in Regent Park so we were real close. It took awhile to figure out exactly where I was in the park, but finally we found each other. The three of us decided to go get some coffee so we headed out of the park. As we were leaving we ran into a few of Emma's classmates who early today had been making fun of Americans who wear nike shorts when they are not working out....and what did I have on today...you guessed right, nike shorts! How ironic! Those crazy girls don't realize how popular nike shorts are and how comfortable they are and they aren't the nicest people any ways ha!
After we grabbed coffee, Katelyn and I headed to Westminister to begin our major park hoppin'. We walked to the front of St. James Park, then walked by Buckingham Palace, through Green park, then headed towards Hyde Park and Kennsington Gardens. After this we walked through Notting Hill into Holland Park to meet up with Katie at Giraffe, one of Katie and I's favorite resturants. In total it took us alittle under 1.5 hours to walk all of that, which is about 5 miles. It was awesome!! Also it was so fun that Katelyn wanted to stick around with me all day and then have dinner with Katie and I.
Me in my new house in St. James Park!
Actually this is a house built for the ducks, kinda like the Peabody in Memphis!
I loved making a new friend and hanging out all day!
That's Buckingham Palace from St. James Park (my new favorite park!)
Katie and I heading home after hanging out with Courtney (SC girl)
Isn't this beautiful!!! It almost doesn't look real, but it is!
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