Fun in town

Despite not feeling up to leaving the comfort of my sofa, I had to head up West to give my support to an Artist friend of mine who has a piece exhibited in the Mall Galleries.

Luckily, the Mall is off Trafalgar Square, which means taking the scenic bus route.  I got off at Charing Cross Station.  Neat little fact about the Charing Cross, it is not the original Medieval Cross, but a Victorian copy.

So, after a short stop at Pret's where I brought a sandwich and a little Gingerbread man named Godfrey.

Admiralty Arch

 I went through Admiralty Arch to the tree lined Oasis that is the Mall.






It was really pretty, the trees are shedding their leaves in autumnal colours and there was a little bow walking into the kerb kicking up the leaves as he went.  it was quite cute.     

My luncheon view

The gallery was quite small and I looked at all the exhibits, not just that of my friend.    After, I crossed the road into St. James Park itself and ate lunch amongst the ducks, geese, swans and Pelicans.  St. James's was created by Henry VIII, he wanted a place to hunt deer close to St. James's Palace. But the Park did not really come into its own until after the Restoration, when Charles II had it turned into a pleasure park.  It was a place that soon became notorious as John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester wrote in his famous filthy poem A Ramble in St. James's Park.

I walked through the park down to Buckingham Palace, which as I get older starts looking far more like what it is (which is an Aristocrats town house) than Palatial.....you know, BP is hardly Versailles is it?

Versailles

Not Versailles

So then I walked through Green Park towards Park Lane, which is where the Famous Ritz Hotel is situated.  I stopped off in Fortnum & Mason to buy some lovely Halloween Sweets for all the kids, It is a really lovely shop, I mean, no one sane would shop in there all the time, it is stupidly expensive, but for the occasional treat it is a really nice shop for gifts and special events.

Fortnum &Mason exterior

And back to the bus stop for the30 minute ride back, the bus stops right outside my building so all of my walking today was leisurely and in beautiful surroundings.  I do not often take advantage of the city, especially these last few weeks, but today I did and I loved every moment, here's to more fun (for free-ish*) in the city.....

*The gallery and the park is, of course, free, the 'ish' is purely F&M.

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