Shameless Tourists

At the moment we are staying fairly close to Hyde Park, so most days we have been walking in and around it. It is a truly lovely park, and it is fantastic to have that huge green space in the middle of such a big city.

Tulips in many a colour.

By far my favourite thing about Hyde Park is the SQUIRRELS. They are all over the place and they are super tame, not afraid at all to come right up to your feet and investigate:

These guys were from a group of about five or so squirrels that were competing with a gang of pigeons over some discarded food.

Frolicking.

Snacking.

This morning we decided to walk through the park and check out some of the touristy things on the other side. The southeast corner has all the war memorials, including New Zealand's and Australia's (which I actually thought was nicer). The best one of all was the Animals of War memorial, which was quite moving:


Beyond the war memorials are a lot of the places to do your sightseeing in London, and this weekend being a Bank Holiday weekend meant we had plenty of company. First was Buckingham Palace, which we happened to arrive at a half hour before the changing of the guards, so the place was pretty crowded.

Jo's house (still looking for Talbot Palace).

We decided we didn't want hang around and moved on to some other big-name stops: Westminster Abbey, Big Ben/Houses of Parliament, and Trafalgar Square, and passed under the truly horrendous London Eye(sore).

Big Ben and Big Oren.

Nelson atop his needlessly tall pedestal (note the mostly clear English sky).

So, we can cross a few places our 'things to see' list.