This week has been much calmer and quieter. We decided to take it easy and do things as we wanted to and not pressure ourselves to get out everyday.
Sunday started out with some frustration as the bus routes were all different because the streets were closed for a cycling event. While initially we were upset that we weren’t going to make it church on time, it turned out to be a nice relaxing day. We walked through Hyde Park to find the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. On our way there we saw a group of people under some trees. They were holding green parakeets. We thought maybe they were someone’s pets. We stopped to watch and learned that they are wild birds that live in the park. They are very tame. If you stand near the trees with your arm out stretched they will come land on you. Someone had bird seed with them and they shared with all of us that were standing there. We stood under the trees for quite some time and enjoyed feeding the birds.
Monday we took a visit to the Bank of England Museum. It was a quick tube ride away and since it is a small museum we knew it would be a short outing for the day. It was a pretty interesting museum and we learned a lot of things about the beginning of the bank. We learned about the security measures used in making English money. In the center of the museum they have a gold bar that weighs 28 pounds. It is valued at about £406,000. Each of us got to hold the gold bar. We will never hold that much money in one hand ever again. On our walk back to the hotel we got caught in a rainstorm. It was a wet walk home, full of lots of laughing.
We have found several coffee shops and bakeries near us. It’s been fun to stop in the afternoon for a cup of tea or hot chocolate and a pastry (or a shot of M&M’s), especially on a drizzly day.
It’s been a slow week, but it’s been good to take a little time to just relax and have some down time.
