Monday, July 6, 2009

Day 13 - Regent's Park, Primrose Hill, Abbey Road


What a day! First, we went to Regent's Park where you can play sports, see a play in the Open Air Theatre, visit the London Zoo, or just sit back, relax, and enjoy life. The best part of this park for me was visiting the gardens, which reminded me very much of Ritter Park in my hometown, which also has a beautiful rose garden on a much smaller scale. My words will not do it justice, so just take a look at my slideshow.

We then walked to Primrose Hill and flew kites. I totally thought this would be silly (sorry Dr. E.), but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt like a kid again, and even got a kick out of startling a man when my kite almost dive-bombed into him. (Mischievous little imp that I am.) Hey, I didn't say I could control this thing! Obviously, there were others before me who could not control their kites, as evidenced by the three kites in the kite-eating tree. The views of London from the hill were fantastic and the weather was perfect for kite flying. The only thing missing were the celebrities.

Our last stop for now was Abbey Road. Of course you remember the final album recorded by the Beatles, "Abbey Road". Well, now imagine all of us recreating the cover by walking across the black and white striped crosswalk four at a time, all the while stopping traffic so we could do so. I'm sure drivers were thrilled with us. You might want to visit the live webcam at Abbey Road. You can also find us in the archives around 1:00 today.

I made a great connection at Regent's Park. As I was taking pictures in the rose garden I noticed a man sitting on the bench feeding the pigeons and I struck up a conversation with him. His name is Max and he is 79 years old.
He told me he lived in one of the nearby highrise flats and that this park was his backyard. He comes to the park everyday with his wife, but she happened to be shopping today. When I told him we were students he was a bit surprised that some of us were a little more "advanced"...and he was not referring to our picture taking abilities. He also told me that in September he will be having a 70th reunion with others who had been "evacuated" in WWI. He said that he had been too young, but because he had an older brother, they evacuated him with his brother two days before war was declared. You just never know what another person may have gone through in their lives. I'm sure I will be thinking of him in September. Shortly after our conversation I saw him walking toward home.

Click to play this Smilebox slideshow: Regent's Park
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