London

    London. The very thought of that city thrills me beyond reason. I have always dreamed of spending a year in England, to experience as much of that beautiful country as possible. This past month, I was able to live a part of that dream. My daughter is in her last quarter of college, and she was fortunate enough to get into a study abroad program. Her chosen city of study? You guessed it -- London. So, during her spring break, I flew over to enjoy the city's sights.
    I arrive at Gatwick about 8:00 AM, and since I'd slept on the plane trip over, I was ready to go. After checking in and dropping off my luggage, we set out for Buckingham Palace. Since one of the streets along Victoria Station is Buckingham Palace Road, we decided to follow that and, sure enough, it led us to the queen's house. Little bit of trivia here – if the queen is in residence at Buckingham, the royal standard that flies is blue, red, and yellow. She wasn't there because it was just the plain old red, white, and blue Union Jack waiving over the castle walls. Anyway, the entire area around the palace was beautiful. The Victoria Fountain that sits in front of the palace is huge. Standing there looking down the Mall, I had so many thoughts running through my mind. For those of you who don't know me, I am a big, big, BIG Princess Diana fan, and I kept picturing the area as it was on the happiest day of her life and the saddest day of her children's lives.
    After enjoying the area around the palace, we set out to find Hyde Park and the Hard Rock Cafe. We found the park but had difficulty locating the restaurant. After making a big circle, we eventually found it and discovered to our embarrassment we had actually passed it before we got to Hyde Park. After eating a nice lunch, and avoiding the Iraq war demonstration, we headed back to Hyde Park. While the weather was cold, it wasn't raining and the sun was shining, so we enjoyed the beauty of Hyde. We walked from one end of it to the other, and found ourselves at Kensington Palace and Kensington Park.
    Kensington Palace is very elegant and beautiful. We didn't actually go into the palace, but we did enjoy the gardens, which I would highly recommend if you visit. You can tour the State Apartments for about $24 American dollars. There is also the “Orangery” which has been turned into a dining facility. The grounds are absolutely stunning. There was also a Diana exhibit taking place in Kensington. It's amazing how, even almost ten years after her death, Princess Diana is still very much a part of the city. We didn't find the Diana Memorial Garden, but we did find the memorial fountain. I don't know what I expected,  more >>