England #9

This is Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived. (I thought of you, Gen.) We could only look at it through these gates.

There is a large park, I believe called Kensington Gardens, sort of surrounding the palace. This is a picture of the lake there.

A park over there is mostly big grassy areas with lots of trees, plants, walking/biking paths, and sometimes a lake, too. Basically, a great place for people to relax or exercise.
There seemed to always be people about reading, picnicking, playing some sport, exercising, or napping. It was really cool how these parks are all over the City. No matter where you live, there is probably at least one park within walking distance. (That's probably one reason why we didn't see very many overweight English folk. It's just a part of their culture to be active.)

While there we decided to go see Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain. I had expected it to be this large, ornate thing, so I was surprised to see this.

Actually, when Daniel said this was it, I thought that he didn't know what he was talking about. (So sorry Babe!) Then he explained the idea behind it and how it was supposed to reflect her life. It was quite cool, once I got closer to it.
I think there was some controversy about whether to allow people to put there feet in or not. It was decided she would probably want it that way. For people to enjoy it and just have fun!


This sign explains more about it. If you can, click on the photo to enlarge it and read about the fountain. I think it's pretty interesting.








Having Fun!!







View from the fountain.

Right near the fountain runs the river Thames, I believe. People could rent paddle boats or row boats. We didn't, but we did smile at some of the folks who were boat challenged. :)

Another thing we found interesting over there, were the tiny cars we saw everywhere. I would try to imagine my dad trying to get in or out of them. That was hard to do! (For those of you who don't know my dad, he is 6' 4".)