From Harrods I got on the Piccadilly line at Knightsbridge planning to transfer to the Jubilee line at Green Park in order to get to the Shard. I had bought the ticket for the Shard ahead of time while I was still in Korea and I had to reserve a time slot for it. So originally after a morning at Windsor Castle I was going to take the train to Waterloo Station and head over to the Shakespeare’s Globe and Borough Market before going up the Shard. As you know, things didn’t go as planned! Still, I made a delightful discovery at Paddington Station and got to see the Harrods department store. Now, when the tube set off from Knightsbridge I was dismayed to find myself being asked to get off at the Hyde Park Corner station due to problems at the Green Park station. This was a problem since I was supposed to transfer at Green Park station! I wondered if it was only the Piccadilly line at Green Park station that was having trouble, and decided to walk there to see if I could get on the Jubilee line. So through the unexpected turn of events I got a chance to see Green Park in London. The first thing I saw was the Wellington Arch and all the people riding bikes around it. The next time I am in London, I am definitely going to try a Borris bike!
Across the street I saw the entrance to Hyde Park with a gorgeous stretch of arches and columns! You can also see in this picture that the traffic lights are on posts rather than strung up in the air. I thought this was interesting as I’ve always seen traffic lights hanging above in the States and in Korea.
Can you recognize the statue over there? Yes! It’s the statue of Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace! I was rather excited to recognize something while wandering around in London.
At times I walked on the side of the road just to feast my eyes on the European buildings across the street.
This shot didn’t come out very sharp, but isn’t it beautiful? I thought it brought so much life to the building.
Sometimes the double-decker buses were wrapped in an advertisement and I thought this one by Adidas looked pretty sweet!
A friend had advised me that if I was strapped for time in London I should skip the parks as parks are pretty much the same everywhere. This holds true for the States as the grass is green and soft there, but I’d have to say that it is not true in Korea. Soft green grass does not grow in the Korean climate, so there is this prickly sort of grass here instead. Because grass is hard to grow to begin with, it is mostly grown with a similar effort and function to that of a flowerbed. The unfortunate result is that in general you are asked to stay off the grass in Korea. This includes in some parks as well. I once had a security guard run towards me blowing a whistle telling me to get off the grass. This is sort of heartbreaking for anyone who grew up playing on grass. Spreading out on a lawn during a nice sunny day is nothing short of pure happiness. So it was nice to walk through Green Park seeing all the happy people enjoying a nice afternoon on the grass.
When I finally reached Green Park station, I was dismayed to find that the entire station had been shut down and the entrances blocked off altogether. Still, I was happy that I got to see a glimpse of London’s greener side! What are the parks like where you live?
