London Post IV

Jeanne and Emmy indicated they'd like to get some rest so Mary and I took a walk through Kennsington Gardens and a little of Hyde Park. It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect and it was fun being with Mary. She was quite patient about my stopping to take pictures. I felt so blessed to have such a great relationship with a child. Jeanne and I have been so blessed in that regard.

We began by walking toward Kennsington Palace. This is where Victoria spent much of her life before becoming queen and where Diana lived after the break up with Charles. The Palace has lovely sunken gardens and beautiful grounds and it was on this walk that Mary began to educate me a bit about who Victoria was. It was a great introduction to later activities like touring the Palace, seeing the movie "Young Victoria" and visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Palace struck me as understated as far as palaces go. That was a sort of endearing thing about it. It looks smaller than it is from the outside. So, I guess if I had to own a palace, maybe this one would be it.

It was here in front of the palace that people left cards and flower arrangements and memorialized Diana after her death.

From the palace we walked toward Hyde Park. Mary took me to a "walkway" of sorts and told me it is the "Princess Diana Memorial Walk." Again, the blossoms were coming on, the flowers were blooming. It seemed we couldn't have come at a better time.

And fortunately, Mary is a pretty willing model.

We reached a point where there was a large memorial in the distance. Mary told me about it as we walked toward it. It is a memorial for Prince Albert. Albert was Victoria's husband and only love. A bit unusual for royalty. They married very young and although Albert died young (age 42 of consumption I think) they were married 20+ years and produced 9 children.

When a plan was hatched to create a monument for him, Victoria apparently told the planners, "If you're going to build him a monument, make it a real monument." This was the result. I saw many statues and monuments to Victoria, including in Birmingham, but none of them rivaled what they came up with for Albert. She really loved him and never remarried in the 40 or so years she lived after his death. She is the longest reigning queen of England and was pretty much universally loved. Albert and she were famous promoters of the arts and so Albert's monument recognizes the great artists and thinkers of the world to his time.

It was my first day in London and so architecture was thrilling to me. Simple views like this enthralled me. Actually, I never tired of the architecture the entire time.

Everytime I saw the chimneys it reminded me of the movie Mary Poppins.

I mentioned earlier how patient Mary was with my photography. One thing that compels me is helping people "all" be in the picture. Jeanne and Emmy and Mary could all tell you how many times they looked back to see me taking a picture of someone with their camera. On the way home, this couple was in the park and so I ask if they didn't both want to be in the picture. The young woman immediately and enthusiastically said yes, so while the young man was reticent, he had no choice. They were quite cute, he British and she American.