Directly after I left Westminster Abbey, I headed over to St. James Park. If I remember the story correctly, when King George ruled, he wanted a place where he could swim in the summer and ice skate in the winter just outside his door at Buckingham Palace, and he wanted it filled with beauty. This is how the park came to be.
Multitudes of tulips and various other flowers bloomed, and the place looked gorgeous no matter where I looked. Feast your eyes on the beautiful photos. I promise there are zero calories involved. Two warnings, though. If you hate flowers or nature in general, turn back now. I won't be offended.
Second, if you're an artist like me and you'd like to paint something based on any of these photos, let me remind you that I own the copyright and you have to get my permission first--otherwise, you'll end up paying me a whole lot of money when I legally remind you of that copyright.
Otherwise, enjoy!!
There are more flowers to come, but first--some greenery to rest your eyes.
Pelicans in London?? Who knew?!?
Across a lake and acres away, that gold atop Queen Victoria's fountain still shines!
I learned that all the swans in England officially belong to Queen Elizabeth. I wonder if the birds know this? Anyway, it is against the law to kill a swan. That I can agree with.
Just out of the photo to the right is a man with a large bag who had been feeding the birds. When he started to leave, so did they. I tried to catch them in flight but wasn't too successful. Anyway, there were several birds sitting on the fence. I noticed, though, down along the fence amongst the birds sat one lone squirrel. Him I did manage to capture in a photo.
The man with the feed is walking away. Looks like the squirrel might try to follow?
This café was in the park itself and overlooked the lake. I grabbed a snack here--Rose Lemonade and molten chocolate cake. Once again, died and gone to heaven. Both treats could be positively addictive. The café even had woolen blankets at the outside tables to pull over your lap. Sat outside--used the blanket.
If you look carefully through the trees, this was the view as I enjoyed my goodies. Zoomed in more in the second photo.
The variety and colors of the water fowl fascinated me.
Can you believe the shoes on this guy?! Oh, his other foot? Tucked up underneath him. Still. Look at that foot. Crazy, huh!
Beautiful brown in the feathers, but doesn't that beak just draw you in?!
Though my eyes are pulled to the glowing gold of this duck's feathers, look over to the left and you can now see both feet of the bird we saw earlier.
Swans are so regal. I guess it's because they're the property of the Queen? Nah.
Trust me; I was not that close to this guy. Or to any of the birds. It's only because of the camera's incredible zoom feature that I was able to capture them in this much detail. He still looks like he has a "will you puh-leaze just go away" look to his face. He settled down shortly after this and closed his eyes. Really.
See, I didn't lie.
Some parting shots of the park as I got closer to the palace.
I sat on a bench for a while and thought I could hear drumming. When I finally left the park, I followed the noise and found these military guys marching and playing. It looked like they were practicing for something. Kinda cool.
I have just a few more photos left of what I did on my last day, but I'll save them for a very short post. You'll see why.
I hope you enjoyed the flowers and birds and St. James Park. Turned out to be one of my favorite places in London.
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