The hostel experience has been treating me well so far. I've made friends with a very nice older gentleman we talk when I am at the locker where I keep my things. We exchanged emails because he is interested in how the rest of my trip is going to go. This hostel is pretty amazing the beds are relatively comfortable and the facility is located in a park. As of right now I would totally stay in this hostel again... But I will be bringing a towel next time. Here they charge you £2 to rent a towel and a £5 deposit. It's a little insane.
The first thing I did today was get lunch from Lunch at Whole Foods, which is HUGE by the way, and I walked myself over to Kensington Gardens. I stayed in the park for 5 hours. It was so beautiful.
I sat with Peter Pan to eat my lunch and stayed there for a long time. The Peter Pan statue is right next to a body of water called The Serpentine so I got to see a lot of ducks, geese, and swans. The statue was really interesting there were fairies, bunnies and all kinds of things at his feet. Apparently this statue was erected in the middle of the night in complete secret as a surprise mon May Day in 1912. Like it happened by magic. In the times on May 1 J.M. Barrie placed an announcement that read, "There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the trail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree..." Kensington Gardens was close to where J.M. Barrie lived and WA s the place of inspiration for Peter Pan which was first published in 1902. (Now we are doen with the history section) While I was at the statue I met a very nice woman from Sacramento who just had to take a picture of herself with the statue for her sister. She said that her sister insists she is Peter Pan and still does at 60 years old. We chatted a bit because, let's be real, her sister and I have this in common. There is even a home video of me somewhere where I am asked about being a princess and my 2 year old self insisted I was Peter Pan.
The next thing I did was I went to the Italian Gardens which is a beautiful area inside of Hyde Park (same place as Kensington Gardens). The Italian Gardens has 4 small ponds with fountains and lily pads, A traditional fountain in the middle, and a beautiful fountain at the end with statues imbedded in it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture if that because of where the sun was positioned. This is there I met a couple from New York. (Funny how everyone I seem to meet and talk to outside of the hostel is an American.) We talked for a while and I ended up taking a pricture for them. They were very nice and we talked about my time in Germany and that kind of thing. The took a picture of me, by myself, in front of the fountain I have put in the picture to the left. The ducks is what started the conversation between the New Yorkers and myself. We though it was funny that they seemed to be posing for us. The amount of birds and ballsey squirrels in Hyde park was amazing. When I would just stop to sit on a bench birds would just fly right up to me. It was very cool. I also saw this amazing bird that flew away before I could get a picture of it. This bird had a black and white body, red on top of its head, and an iridescent green also like the color of an oil spill on its long tail feathers. This bird was just stunning.
Next I found my way over to the Diana, Princess of Wales Mamorial fountain. This place was amazing. It is a separate section of the park gated off from the rest. The fountain was quite large and was a big textured circle. The water was clear and it was a great place to sit down and have a quiet moment to myself. But because I took a video I can't post it here (I might add it later if I figure it out).
I mostly spent my day walking around Kensington and I loved it. I felt so comfortable in this area that I almost don't want to leave... But I get to see Edinburgh tomorrow and I'll come back to London before I leave. I popped into a few shops and caught me a fair amount of Pokemon. Literally Pokemon everywhere, and Pokemon I haven't seen in the states yet. (If you want to know about the Pokemon message me about it). I also stopped by the Science Meuseum which was not as exciting as I thought it was going to be.
Then for dinner I walked down the street and went to the Princess Victoria Pub and had myself a local beer and som fish and chips... And mushy peas... The beer was called Theakston and it was a very mellow IPA. The food was pretty good too. The breeding on the cod was crispy and delicious and the mushy peas were a total do again for me.... But I hate to say it... I've had better fish and chips in the states. The mushy peas I just can't get over. It is like peas mushed together with salt, pepper, cream, and sugar until it's the consistency of lumpy mashed potatos. It looked like some sort of baby food but I loved them. It's probably my favored thing I have dated in London. Odd as it is... I found a recipe on line if your interested but I don't know how good this one is. allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/1925/mushy-peas.aspx
I had such a lovely time today. Learning to rely on myself and not having to worry about what anyone else wanted to do. Well I'm going to turn it because tomorrow I have a train to catch.
Bye bye from London Town.
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