Day 9 - Hyde Park

Today was a non-academic day, which means that classes didn't meet and students were able to go on a day trip to Canterbury and Dover or spend the day in London. Jessica and I spent the day at Hyde Park.

Before we went to Hyde Park, we went to the National Portrait Gallery. The NPG displays portraits of Britain's royals, politicians, writers, artists, and scientists from the Tudors through the contemporaries. The only known portrait of Jane Austen was on display. As an Austen-fanatic, it was so awesome to see her portrait up close. My favorite, though, was the statue of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They were holding hands and Victoria was looking up at him. You could just see the love she felt for him. The artist did an excellent job of expressing that love. A portrait of the Bronte sisters was on display as well.

After the NPG, we made our way to Hyde Park. It was huge! We tried to find the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, but we got lost and ended up going through all of Hyde Park before we realized it was over the bridge near Kensington Gardens. Once we did find it, we walked around it and observed little kids playing in the water and couples having picnics on the lawn. We went around Kensington Garden and made our way to the Albert Memorial. It was the most extravagant memorial I have ever seen. It was gorgeous.

It was a good day, seeing a part of London that I've never seen before. The weather was nice as well, making it a pretty perfect day.

Tomorrow I'm scheduled to see Stonehenge and Winchester.

Until then.