Greenwich Park, here in Greenwich, is where the London marathon begins! That little fact finally motivated me to go running in Greenwich Park, which is only about 10 minutes (running) from our flat. My run started out with a very long and very steep hill....followed by a few more long, steep hills (I mean, these hills are Boston Heart Break Hill type hills...painful!). At the top of the hills are fabulous views of the city and, fortunately, in between the hills there are some flat spots. Of course, when you run up a hill, you then get to run down a hill. So that part was very nice.
Greenwich Park is really pretty (see previous pictures) and while I was running an inspiring song came onto my Ipod and I looked around me and thought, "I can't believe I'm running in London." To my left was the biggest, fluffiest crow I have ever seen (Yes, it was FLUFFY...it looked like a teddy bear, but it was a crow). Sun was filtering down through the trees. All around me there were people walking and I felt excited about where we are and what we are doing and all the unknowns and possibilities. I also felt a little sad because there were many dogs in the park and I miss Buster. Most of the dogs around here are about his size and I know he would love to go for walks with us and to sniff and run around the park. Plus, he is my companion, typically, when I'm going through these transitions...
I also felt sad because this tall, skinny, older man lapped me...but whatever. I still have jet lag AND a cold (humph!).
Including the time it took me to partially walk up the second very steep hill, I ran for an hour. Pretty good for not having run in a while! Tomorrow I might run along the Thames...or UNDER the Thames. There is a tunnel that goes from Greenwich, under the river, to Canary Wharf (or somewhere around there). The entrance is under a dome, right on the banks of the Thames. The other day I noticed that people would go into the dome and never come out again. I knew it wasn't a tube stop...and now I know it's a "pedestrian subway."
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Taking a day off
I have been diligently exploring London while Jim has been at work, but now I am tired, so, at this point, I am planning just to hang around Greenwich today. It's a beautiful day and would be the perfect day to go out to Kew Gardens or something beautiful dayish like that, but I just don't have it in me right now.
Yesterday, I met up with a new friend, Carolina, for lunch at the Sotheby's Cafe. It was reasonably priced, considering the location (very posh area) and the food was delicious! We were surrounded by well dressed people (I wore jeans...whoops!) speaking all different languages and dining between auctions. We had salads and soup and we each got dessert (I had pistachio cake with apricot yogurt's fool, which was delicious!) and tea. Then we walked around Bond Street, where all the high designer stores are. I saw a beautiful Tod's handbag in the window of the Tod's store and a 33 carat yellow diamond ring. It was all very extravagent and we wondered how many sales a day those types of places need to make to stay in business. With the rich and the famous around, they probably don't have too many problems and they provide great window shopping for the rest of us.
We also took a look up the street at the Ritz Carlton and Green Park, which is a park that has no flowers, only green. I read that the reason for this is because a king (can't remember which one) said he was going to pick a flower for the most beautiful woman around and then gave it to a chambermaid instead of to the queen. So, in a rage, the queen ordered that all flowers be removed from the gardens--thus, Green Park.
We're going to see Borat tonight. I have never seen Ali G, so I have no expectations or preconceived notions. All I know is that Jim is VERY excited to see the movie. And the New York times has a pretty funny slide show of "Borat" in their style section.
Yesterday, I met up with a new friend, Carolina, for lunch at the Sotheby's Cafe. It was reasonably priced, considering the location (very posh area) and the food was delicious! We were surrounded by well dressed people (I wore jeans...whoops!) speaking all different languages and dining between auctions. We had salads and soup and we each got dessert (I had pistachio cake with apricot yogurt's fool, which was delicious!) and tea. Then we walked around Bond Street, where all the high designer stores are. I saw a beautiful Tod's handbag in the window of the Tod's store and a 33 carat yellow diamond ring. It was all very extravagent and we wondered how many sales a day those types of places need to make to stay in business. With the rich and the famous around, they probably don't have too many problems and they provide great window shopping for the rest of us.
We also took a look up the street at the Ritz Carlton and Green Park, which is a park that has no flowers, only green. I read that the reason for this is because a king (can't remember which one) said he was going to pick a flower for the most beautiful woman around and then gave it to a chambermaid instead of to the queen. So, in a rage, the queen ordered that all flowers be removed from the gardens--thus, Green Park.
We're going to see Borat tonight. I have never seen Ali G, so I have no expectations or preconceived notions. All I know is that Jim is VERY excited to see the movie. And the New York times has a pretty funny slide show of "Borat" in their style section.
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