Week Six and Still Lots to do in London

Monday April 26, 2010
The Regents Park

Regent’s Park, formally known as The Regent’s Park, is maintained by the Royal Parks, a government agency, and used to be hunting grounds for King Henry VIII. In the 19th century, John Nash designed an ornamental park at the request of Prince Regent. Thus, the name The Regent’s Park. My favorite part of the park is Queen Mary’s Gardens, named after King George V’s wife. It is the home to the world famous rose gardens—over 30,000 roses and 400 varieties.

It was a beautiful day, so I spent it in The Regents Park. The flowers continue to bloom and I continue to take pictures.

My London Learning for the day…the following movies have scenes from Regent’s Park in them: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), Spy Game (2001), Brief Encounter (1945), and About a Boy (2002).


Tuesday April 27, 2010
Soho Square, Chinatown and Covent Garden

Soho Square
This square was once one of the fashionable addresses of London and was called Kings Square after Charles II.

Chinatown-Gerrard Street and other surrounding streets
Pictures from my walk through Chinatown on my way to Covent Garden.

Covent Garden is a must see when visiting London. It is an Italian style piazza, designed by architect Inigo Jones, housing several market stalls, boutiques, cafes, restaurants, and bars. Outside the piazza is the stage for several street performers. The “main stage” is the east portico and fake door to St. Paul’s Church, also built by Inigo Jones. I spent a good part of my afternoon being entertained by the various performers.

St. Paul's Church

Above is the west portico (main entrance to the church) and below is the east portico used as a stage for the street performers.

Some of the Street Performers

My London Learning for the weekend is that you have two choice when purchasing Orange Juice—smooth or with bits. Bits means pulp. Bits is also used describing yogurt with pieces of fruit in it.

Wednesday April 28, 2010
Westfield London Shopping Centre

After lunch with Tony, I headed to the Westfield London Shopping Centre, what we would call a mall. It is run by the same company as the Westfield Malls at home, but this Shopping Centre far exceeds the ones at home in the States—think classy, clean and huge. The food court area is really nice with restaurants and cafes—not the noisy fast food thing we love in the States. Personally, I loved the cupcake café. Though, my favorite part about the Shopping Centre was the Village, which is the wing of the mall where the high end stores are located, as well as the champagne bar!

My London Learning for the day are 1) a parking lot is called a car park and 2) there are two grocery stores at the Shopping Centre—so smart—shop for everything in the same place! Actually most major department stores here have food halls (grocery stores) on the lowest levels of the store. This includes Harrods and Selfridges!


Thursday April 29, 2010
Routine
The free lunch-time concert at the church today was a performance by Yoko Nakamura on the piano. She played Beethoven, Chopin, and Scriabin. Afterwards, I went back to the Science Museum and enjoyed the exhibits on Measuring Time, Cosmos and Culture, Medical History, and the Science and Art of Medicine.

Above: View of Flight exhibit from the Cosmos and Culture exhibit

Below: From the Science and Art of Medicine Exhibit: of the Alms boxes--these were in front of the Royal Bethlehem Hospital (know as Bedlam), which was a mental health asylum in London. The first patients came to the hospital in 1377 and continued to house patients until the 1800s. The hospital moved to a different location and the building now houses the Imperial War Museum.

My London Learning for the day is that King George III did suffer from bouts of mental illness, which is now thought to be from a blood disease known as porphyria. With his relapses being severe a regency was established and the King was determined unfit to rule. The King’s son, George, Prince of Wales, acted as the regent at during this time was known as Prince Regent, as in the Prince Regent of The Regent’s Park (see Monday’s post). Upon his father’s death, Prince Regent became King George IV. Below is a picture of a report from 1788 of a committee that investigated the mental status of King George III.

Friday April 30, 2010

My post for today is also My London Learning for the day. I was inspired to share this when at the Museum of Science yesterday. There are many unusual signs here in the UK and I have learned that while in the UK read the signs with the UK meaning. If you don’t you will a) be confused, b) be disgusted, c) laugh really hard, and/or d) a combination of all three. So here is the sign I saw that provided the inspiration. Disclaimer—I should mention that I did take it in the bathroom, BUT I was the only one in the bathroom, I took this for the benefit of my blog readers, and I no longer intend on taking picture in the bathroom so enjoy!

**Bathrooms are know as toilets in the UK**

Weekend Saturday and Sunday May 1-2, 2010
Back to Tower of London and Greenwich Park

Tony and I then took a 6-7 mile walk to Greenwich Park in southeast London (Zone 2). Greenwich Park is one of the Royal Parks and is best known for housing the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian. The Prime Meridian is also known as the International or Greenwich Meridian, is location of 0 degrees longitude dividing the eastern and western hemispheres.

 

A Shepherd Gate 24 hour clock at the Royal Observatory Greenwich

A picture of the backside of the clock.

A view of central London from the Royal Observatory

My London Learning for the weekend was about the Ravens at the Tower of London. King Charles II ordered that the Ravens be removed from the Tower at the request of his astronomer; however, when King Charles II was told that if the ravens leave the Tower the monarchy and kingdom will fall, he ordered that the Raven remain. And…the Ravens have been housed at the Tower since. The legend remains today, so between 6-10 Ravens are kept at the Tower and the wings of the birds are clipped to keep them from flying away.