Tuesday — 6 August 2019 (Morning)

Today was a free day. Justin had to work so I went into London with him and then spent the day doing some touring and sightseeing by myself.

My first stop was the Marble Arch which was finished in 1833 as part of an enlargement of Buckingham Palace for the growing family of Queen Victoria. Later, as part of a cost-reduction effort, the arch was moved to its present inconspicuous place on a traffic island at the corner of Hyde Park.

From the Marble Arch, I walked across Hyde Park, London’s equivalent of Central Park in New York City. Besides big open green space, it hosts a lot of activities such as roller skating, boating, and horseback riding. The lake itself is a popular place with a restaurant, and there are special attractions in the park such as the gnarled tree above which would be beloved in Cambodia.

On the edge of Hyde Park is the Princess Diana memorial fountain, a large oval concrete watercourse set in a sloping hillside with water splashing down to the bottom. I found it to be less than impressive.