Another side to the capital

I had a day out yesterday and once again I was truly lucky with the weather.  Want to come with me?

I left home early and caught the coach - the sun was not long up and beginning to bathe the countryside in its light.  Do try enlarging some or all of the photos as they are so much better and clearer then.

The sky was blue and criss crossed with the trails of aircraft - I was glad I was on terra firma and wouldn't have wanted to be going anywhere warm and sunny on this wonderful crisp frosty morning.  The scenery had the colour bleached out of it and the shades were faded and subtle with every twig and blade of grass frosted and the sun an orange ball.

 It wasn't long however before we hit one of the patches of freezing fog which had been forecast - I was glad I wasn't driving.  Can you guess where I was headed fom the above photo?

Yes I was on my way to London and here we are passing Stonehenge whose huge stones loomed out of the fog - the sheep unconcerned by the history of the place were busily munching the frozen grass.  Further on the only touches of colour were some pheasants pecking at the frozen soil or was it perhaps that I knew they were colourful rather than actually seeing their red and green plumage.

As you can see by the time I got to London the fog had been left behind and I met my friend outside the Albert Hall and we made our way across the road to where the Albert Memorial stood with its gold work glistening in the sunshine - just look at that sky!

We were headed to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park which you can see across the Serpentine in this photo.

It wasn't quite what we had expected being a huge fairground with lots of scary rides and loud music together with many stalls selling food and drinks and some selling other items like wooly hats, hand warmers, jewellery and so on and not quite the tasteful Christmas Market I had envisaged!  However the colours of this ride against the vivid blue sky appealed to me if not the actual ride!

 We had wanted to see the Ice Sculptures and these didn't disappoint but we didn't linger too long in what was essentially a refrigerator!

 Then it was time to warm up with some lunch and we made our way to the cafe/restaurant which overlooks the Serpentine and were lucky enough to get a window seat overlooking this view.  A few hardy souls braved the temperatures to sit outside - perhaps they were smokers.

We ventured out onto the terrace after lunch just long enough to take a photo or two.  There were a huge number of birds of all kinds including Canada geese and swans along the edges of the lake.

 We decided that we'd walk round the lake enjoying the sunshine and catching up on all our gossip.  So we set off to walk round the Serpentine and Long Water which is actually in Kensington Gardens adjoining Hyde Park.  I have no idea of the distance but we were walking for about 2 hours.

 Loved this little house ....

... isn't it pretty?  Apparently it was built in 1911 to house the park keeper.

 This one could be anywhere out in the country couldn't it?  You can see why the green spaces and parks are often called the green lungs of the Capital.   London has a huge acreage of green spaces where you can be away from the noise and grime of the city in just a few minutes and can quite forget you are in the middle of a busy metropolis.

 This rather strange sculpture is The Arch by Henry Moore and had been removed in 1996 as it was structurally unsound but was replaced earlier this year.

 Could be Stourhead or somewhere couldn't it?

 Only the buildings shining in the sunshine in the background to indicate that we are not far from the hustle and bustle of London's busy streets.

The frost hadn't melted at all in places where the sun hadn't reached - it was very cold and now the sun was  going down it became colder still.  I love the golden orange colour the setting sun gives to everything though it also speaks of chill and I can't help wondering about the old chap (probably no older than I am!) we had passed on our walk, sitting on a seat with his bicycle alongside laden with dozens of plastic carrier bags, and where he might have spent the night! 

We were not tempted to paddle our feet in the water nor even our fingers as suggested at the Princess Diana memorial fountain as by now it was really freezing and our thoughts turned to something warmer.

We had enjoyed our walk and it was a part of London with which neither my friend nor I were familiar so it made for an interesting ramble but by now we were pleased to have arrived back at the Albert Hall where we decided to have tea and cake (it was my friend's birthday after all!) again we had a window seat and overlooked this view.  The architecture of these buildings is beautiful and the workmanship which went into the stone carvings amazing - I wonder if in years to come people will marvel at the craftmanship involved in our modern buildings.  The buildings on the left are The Albert Hall Mansions built by Norman Shaw in 1879 and they started a fashion for red brick.  The buildings in front are the Royal College of Music.

Having warmed up from our walk and enjoyed an hour of conversation over a very civilised pot of tea in pleasant surroundings it was time to wend our separate ways home so we parted promising to do Plan B - our plan should the weather have been wet and involving an exhibition at the Natural History Museum - before too long.  I hope you are not too cold nor footsore now and that you enjoyed our walk?