Hyde Park to Harrods

Garry and I took a stroll through Hyde Park today. It's the first time that I recall wandering through this London landmark. Our primary destination was the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. After so much controversy regarding its design, I was keen to finally see it for myself. We thought it was located close to her former home of Kensington Palace. However, as we entered through Lancaster Gate it soon became clear that the fountain was somewhere else.

We eventually located it on the shore of Serpentine Lake, a body of water that literally cuts Hyde Park in two. The fountain, while rather plain, was a popular gathering point. It's roughly an oval-shaped granite stream set into the side of a sloping hill. Water races through a series of obstacles, down either side of the oval, before entering a quiet pond at the base. Children were playing a variation of Pooh Sticks in the rapidly flowing water.

We then wandered along the lakeshore watching couples furiously exercising their paddle boats. Geese were everywhere. Garry kept pointing south and encouraging them to fly away for winter. We eventually drew close to Kensington. Here we left the park behind us and headed for the Harvey Nicols and Harrods. We found an ideal display platter for the dining table in Harvey Nicks. I also grabbed a 15-minute back massage for £10, delivered with brutal force by the most danity of Japanese ladies.

Harrods' food hall was buzzing. The store is currently holding its "Anything is Possible" promotion. If you want to buy a private jet, Harrods will get it for you. For us, the Wild Scottish Salmon at £100/kg was probably out of our league.

We finished the afternoon with a dash into Soho where I grabbed a £5 haircut, and Garry, a coffee. On the way home we found ourselves caught up in the midst of Tom the Tourman's annual Monopoly Board Pub Crawl. We encountered them at 5:00pm on the Bakerloo tube looking rather jolly. They had another four hours ahead, having started at 10:00am. I pity the barman serving them at 9:00pm this evening.