London Day One - Hyde Park and the Serpentine Galleries

First day in London 2019. We came in from Dublin where it was cold when we left. Our Monogram host took us to the airport after an early breakfast at the hotel. The plane was packed and we were in the very back. We had some very nice views of the Irish coast but it was a short bumpy flight across the Irish Sea into Heathrow Airport where it was nice and sunny. We had a long baggage wait and then through customs screening. Then there was a Monogram host right there calling our names. He drove us to the hotel which was once again the Millennium Gloucester. We were able to check in right away and settled into the familiar surroundings of the hotel we had enjoyed so much the previous year.

We left the hotel for a walk up Cromwell Road towards the museums and Hyde Park. On the way to the park we stopped at the outdoor cafe at the Victoria and Albert Museum where we snacked on some carrot cake and waters. We loved the cake when we ate at restaurant tea room the last time we were at that museum.

Then we continued up to Hyde Park where we walked around and saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain which was a beautiful playground. We also walked around the Kensington Palace Gardens.

We went to the Serpentine Galleries in the park and saw a nice retrospective show of the work of American artists Faith Ringgold. We also saw retrospective of another woman artist at the Sachler-Serpentine Gallery. Becky was unfamiliar with this work but it was very good.

We walked along the lake and stopped at a cafe Serpentine Lido. There were lots of people taking boats out on the lake. There were some nice views of the city too. We got turned around while in the park, lost some of our sense of direction and wandered about for some time but eventually found our way out. Surprisingly at that point as we were leaving the park some people asked us for directions to the Diana Memorial. 

On our way out of the park we stopped at the Albert Memorial in the park directly across from the Royal Albert Hall. It was spectacular. We made our way down Queen's Gate Road and then over to Gloucester Road to our hotel where we spent some time in our room resting after a long day of traveling and then spending a wonderful time in the park.