Maggi and I with Alex and family met up with the two nieces at High Street Kensington Station. At first it seemed like herding cats in order to begin our procession to Kensington Gardens. As one arrived two moved off to do some shopping. Eventually we all assembled in the entrance to the tube station and set off. Sunday morning in that area and the crowds made walking together very difficult.
We turned up Palace Green through the sentry and gates into the wide tree lined avenue with all the embassies that line one side of the road. I tried to interest the girls in the flags but I wasted my time.
We then turned towards Kensington Palace where we had a group photo. Unfortunately I didn’t receive the resulting image of all of us.
We walked on and found a picnic spot in the shade of the trees. Vikki’s Hungarian Vistula proved to be quite a handful once untied from the tree near where we sat. She started playing with another dog and they managed to run into Vikki and knock her over.
We enjoyed the picnic with everyone taking part, although both Martin and Graham remained fairly quiet.
From here we wandered onto the Princess Diana Memorial Garden in Hyde Park where the kids put on their costumes and played around in the water. Somehow I managed to shut my eyes and drift off to sleep for a short while. Greg had already left to watch the final stages of the Open Golf held at Troon.
A couple of hours here and then time to go home. We walked across Hyde Park to Lancaster Gate where we picked up the Central Line to Bond Street. By this time Maggi felt really tired. We had walked over 5 miles and this was only her second time in London. On arrival at the Bond Street Jubilee platform the sign said 8 minute for the next train. It didn’t arrive in 8 minutes and the platform became more and more crowded and a lot hotter. Maggi declared she felt ill so we decided to go up for some air. We left the station and walked across the road to the Bond Street Hotel where we sat down and had a drink.
Alex ordered a Uber and we drove home, meaning Maggi didn’t need to walk any further.