Richmond!

On Sunday, as we were lounging around in our pajamas and contemplating the day ahead of us, Jim suggested that we take a picnic. We didn't want to go any place we had already been, so Jim got on the internet and did some research and we agreed to head down south to Richmond--one stop on the train past Kew Gardens (see previous blogs about Kew Gardens).

Of course, no adventure in or around London is complete unless we forget our A to Z, which has every street in London on it. SO, as usual, we left that behind and hopped on the Silverlink out of West Hampstead. If any of you are contemplating going to Kew Gardens or Richmond from West Hampstead, the Silverlink is the way to do it...especially on the weekend, when half the tubelines are down for "planned engineering." Even the Silverlink was partially down, but we have been lucky this weekend that none of the planned engineering affected us (for once. In addition to leaving our map behind every chance we get, we also are very good at forgetting to check the status of the tube/train, which is vital on the weekends).

The Silverlink took us to the last stop: Richmond! THen we hopped on a bus, which dropped us off right around the corner from Richmond Park. The park was developed by some King or Lord because he wanted to have deer to hunt. There is a wall all around it, which was originally meant to keep the deer in. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of the famous deer, but we saw a lot of other people!

Richmond Park has great trails running through it and looks a lot different than the other manicured parks within London (with the exception of Hampstead Heath, which also has a more natural feel). We hiked down a trail and set up our picnic under some trees. Bunnies were coming in and out of their dens all around us and we were very good friends with some ravens/crows by the end of our lunch.

Here is Jim getting ready to hike down the trail that eventually led to our picnic spot:

He was such a gentleman and let us use his jacket as a tablecloth, since we don't have enough blankets yet, to spare any for things like picnics:

I spent a lot of time trying to get this crow/raven to eat bread out of my hand. He would have done it if I had kept at it for a couple of more hours. He would circle from the back and hop and little closer and a little closer....but he always got scared at the last minute.

After our picnic, we walked up past one of the lodges, which was surrounded by daffodils and other flowers that we have on the farm in Louisiana. We crossed into a wooded area where we saw a green woodpecker! Some annoying kid scared it away, though.
Because the train station was actually very close to the park, we decided to walk back up Richmond Hill. The hill overlooked the Thames and down below people were walking on a trail that went along the Thames. There were also ice cream trucks everywhere. Jim enjoyed a cone and you can kind of see the river behind him. It was a really beautiful view.

Eventually we made it to the high street and down to an area next to the river, where people were sitting in the sun and enjoying an afternoon pint. It was during this span of time that we decided that British women take "hoochie" to a whole new level...London is Dallas times 10! We were quite the fuddy duddies in our cords and fleece jackets and pale non-orange complections and I think that half of the people out on the hill were actually on the prowl. But we were having a great time just feeding the ducks in fuddy duddy marital bliss. We didn't get a picture of him, but one of the geese was definitely Buster in goose form. He was begging for food, soulful eyes and all.

Here is the scene from the bank of the river (in the area where we were feeding the ducks and mingling with the locals)


When we decide we don't want to be so central, Richmond is definitely a place to consider. Next weekend, I think we are going to try to catch the Cambridge vs. Oxford boat races!