I went to the Banqueting House to see where they beheaded Charles I in 1649. Well actually I went to see the Peter Paul Rubens ceiling paintings, which according to the audioguide are the only Rubens paintings still located where they were originally intended. They were impressive even from fifty feet away. The building itself was an Inigo Jones masterpiece, with perfect proportions--a double cube. It was the first Georgian building in London, and was the beginning of London's distinctive architecture.

From there I walked the nearly four miles home, through the central parks. Using the Walking London book as a guide, I began in St. James's Park, the oldest of the royal parks (opened to the public by
Charles II in 1660). I saw a swan coming in for a landing on the lake and couldn't believe how loud his flapping wings were. (It was a little frightening, actually, having just watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy with those flying attack birds!) Just before I reached Buckingham Palace, I crossed over and walked the length of Green Park. From there I went into Hyde Park and along the Serpentine. I took a detour over to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain which was surprisingly very beautiful. It was too late to stop in at the Serpentine Gallery, unfortunately, so that will have to wait for another time. By the way, I was now in Kensington Gardens. I passed the Peter Pan sculpture but was disappointed that I couldn't see the Henry Moore sculpture that, according to the book, was on the opposite bank. I'm wondering if maybe it is part of the Kew Gardens exhibition, in which case I did see it. In the home stretch, I tore across Kensington Gardens, past Round Pond with more fowl, then Kensington Palace, and home.

Shortly after, Gord and I left to meet a friend who was interviewing for a position at Goldsmith's College in New Cross (near Greenwich). We ate at a pub called the Hobgoblin that served decent Thai food. At one point four young kids came in dressed in Hallowe'en costumes, saying "trick or treat" and asking for money. We gave them each a few pence. After all, we were at the Hobgoblin. We had a nice visit with our friend and left reluctantly around ten for the one-hour journey home.

(Ginger, I passed a lot of those deck chairs this afternoon but it was just a little too chilly to rent one, and besides I didn't have my book with me.)