Today, I got up around 10. I slept more soundly that I have in weeks…guess the half pint of English beer and Tylenol pm really did their work. I woke up once at 7 when the roommate in the bunk above me rolled over, and thought for a moment that it was 3am and she was just coming home from the clubs, but then I saw the sunlight from the window! Anyway, I made toast for breakfast, and spent the morning looking at maps of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, because I knew I wanted to explore them more in the beautiful sunshine, especially because it’s not supposed to be sunny for at least 10 days. After lunch, I went with a group to get an Oyster card for the tube, and then most of my group decided to rent the free bicycles provided by the city and ride around the park, but I always prefer walking to biking, so I went back to the flat for my camera, joined up with a friend, and went to a store called TK Maxx to find a purse, which I had forgotten to bring. I bought a nice, waterproof, golden-colored Fossil brand bag with a long strap, so I’m quite pleased.
Then, we walked around Kensington Gardens, went up to the palace, which is really only about a 5 minute walk from our flat (!), and around the Round Pond. The palace is lovely, but honestly not as impressive as, say, Buckingham Palace. Really, it looks more like a large, red-brick house, with the only indications of royalty (other than the location in Hyde Park) being the large, ornate gates in front. We walked around to the Sunken Garden, where a bunch of pigeons and squirrels were begging for food from sympathetic French tourists. There were two pigeons that looked to be different species from the common London-dwelling pigeons. These were light gray, with colors in patches, and a white patch around their head, and looked bigger than the other pigeons. Also begging for food was a very large gray squirrel. This squirrel would walk up to a tourist and tug on their pant leg till they fed him. He kept eying me, but I averted my attention before he could get to me. The gardens are pretty, but of course nothing is blooming in January, except for a few little yellow ranunculi of some sort (Winter Aconite, I think) that looked to have just opened around the border. Between the Sunken Garden and the Orangery, where there is now a café, there are huge cylinder topiaries of holly and bay. I can’t imagine how many meals I could spice with the bay from just one of the trees. 
I LOVE the Round Pond! There are birds everywhere! Lots of seagulls flock all over, and other shorebirds I’m not familiar with. There are lots of different types of geese, and big white swans begging for a hand-out. Lots of little children ran about with bread to feed the waterfowl. Walking around the park, we saw lots and lots of dogs. The English really do love their dogs. I saw greyhounds and dachshunds, and lots of little terriers, and even a wolfhound. After my walk, I returned to the flat to heat up leftovers for dinner. Tonight, I think I’ll look up theater tickets and see what shows are in town.
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