London Wanderer....

What a nice feeling it is to have the odd weekend now and again where you don't actually have any definite plans, but come Sunday evening you can reflect back and realise that you have actually had a pretty cool weekend!

I had arranged to meet up with a friend to go the Tate & have lunch. After a much needed but rather guilty pub lunch on Saturday she had to dash back to greet the in-laws, so rather than head back to Essex before meeting another friend later in the evening, I decided I would make the most of being in London and blend in with the tourists.

I cranked up the iPod and headed west along the Southbank to Westminster, before heading across the bridge northwards towards St James' Park and up into Green Park, Hyde Park and then across even further West to Kensington Gardens. How nice it was to have no destination in mind and to just go wherever my feet felt liked carrying me. Normally I hate the crowds of London and use it as a place to purely travel to and from work and not really appreciating the essence that is London. I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed being among the throngs of Crowds at Big Ben before heading up into the quietness of the parks.

I think my biggest find of the day was in St James' Park. Even though it is the middle of winter, the day was grey and drab and it was continually drizzling with rain, I happened to chance across the only tree in the whole of the park that had bloomed with cherry blossoms.

 Maybe it's just me being girly and a bit sentimental, but I was quite moved by the fact that there really is beauty in every day life. I think it's fair to say I got a few strange looks when I wandered over to the tree and circled it, taking pictures of the flowers covered in dew drops.

I guess it's my kookiness coming out, but you can't help but notice the contrast with the bare limbs and trunks of the stripped trees all around....

After spending a little too long marvelling at this one tree, I carried on my journey through the parks and took great delight in the mischievous squirrels running in and out of peoples legs, foraging for nuts. I even had one of them try to climb up my boot, but I think he soon realised I had no food to keep him enticed!

Onwards and upwards - I went from Kensington High Street up to Queenswater and then back across to Marble Arch, where I eventually admitted defeat and jumped on a train up to Islington to meet my friend for a well deserved dinner.

After all that walking I felt it was a just reward to unwind with a few bottles of vino over some girly chats, with some rather delicious Belgium Chocolates. Mmmmm.....all in all a good end to a very tiring but productive day!