The travels of Tim and Megan: Changing of the Guard and Hyde Park

After last weekend in Paris and a busy week at work for both of us, we decided to take it easy this weekend. After a big sleep-in, we had some shopping to do on Saturday. We still needed a lot of kitchen and bathroom things that the flat didn't provide us with, so we explored the many shops around Victoria Street and it was a big success. Megan was particularly stoked with the wok.

In the afternoon we took turns choosing a new pub in our area to try out. We had already tried The Royal Oak on the Friday night, which was quite small and cosy but very nice and about 12 steps to our front door, so it got a solid B+. On Saturday afternoon, Tim chose the Albert, which the fans will be pleased to hear, won The Standard Pub of the Year in 1984. It was also very nice, although there were a lot of old people there, possibly many of whom remembered the glory days of the Albert in 1984. Again a B+. Then Megan chose The Cardinal, which was very good. Slightly tacky decor, and a rougher crowd, but on the up side, they did have a dart board and a great selection of beers!!! Probably a B.

On Sunday we wandered over to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard. We had to get there about half an hour before it started to get a good spot and the actual changing of the guard takes almost an hour itself, and if truth be told, we were a little bored by the end of it. Good to have seen it, but I wouldn't imagine it's one of those things where you go back for a second look. Still, quite funny when one of the 'beefeaters' couldn't stop sneezing!

Next up we went for a walk through Hyde Park...or about a third of Hyde Park, as it is massive! We grabbed some lunch and walked around the pond/lake thing, where they had paddle boats for hire (we are definitely going back to try those puppies out). We stopped for a look at the Diana Pricess of Wales memorial fountain, which is actually a man-made stream rather than a fountain. Megan dipped her feet in and informed Tim that it was very cold. We also had a look at the new New Zealand memorial in the corner of Hyde Park. Slightly less impressive than I had imagined. But still quite cool to see some 'Kiwiana' in the heart of London.

Then we had a relaxing afternoon, Megan reading and Tim cursing Roger Federer for ruining another multi. Honestly, you would expect the so-called greatest player of all time to be able to hit the ball OVER the net...

Two weeks til we head off to Valencia...very excite!