London Hyde Park And Kensington Gardens

Surrounded by London’s wealthiest neighborhoods, Hyde Park has served as the model for city parks around the world, including Central Park in New York and Paris’s Bois de Boulogne. Henry VIII stole the land from Westminster Abbey in 1536, and James I opened it to the public in 1637—the first royal park to be the product of theft. During an outbreak of the plague in 1665, terrified inhabitants of the city camped out here for a year in an attempt to quarantine themselves. It’s still the largest public space in central London, and the expansive grounds continue to be popular with tourists and locals. Kensington Gardens, originally part of Hyde Park and effectually still so, was created in the late 17th century when William and Mary set up house in Kensington Palace. In both parks, warm days attract swarms of sunbathers, along with people tossing frisbees, cycling, in-line skating, playing football, and horseback riding. A number of cafes and restaurants make a full day in the park easy—try the Dell or the Lido. (Dell on the eastern side of the Serpentine. Hyde Park Corner. ☎020 7706 0464. Open daily in summer 9am-8pm; in winter 9am-4pm. Lido on the southern side of the Serpentine. Hyde Park Corner. ☎020 7706 7098. Open daily in summer 9am-8pm; in winter 9am-4pm.)

THE SERPENTINE. Officially known as the “Long Water West of the Serpentine Bridge,” that’s.. just what it is. The snaking, 41-acre body of water was created in 1730 as decoration, but today it’s actually used quite a bit: dog-paddling tourists, rowers, and pedal boaters make it London’s busiest swimming hole. Nowhere near the water, its namesake Serpentine Gallery is a leader in contemporary art. (Hyde Park Corner. Boating: ☎020 7262 1330. Open Apr.-Sept. daily 10am-5pm or later in fine weather. £5 per 30min., £7 per hr.; children £2/3. Deposit may be required for large groups. Swimming at the Lido, south shore: ☎020 7706 3422. Open from June to early Sept. daily 10am-5:30pm. Lockers and sun lounges available. £4, after 4pm £3; students £3/2; children 1p/80p; families £9. Gallery open daily 10am-5pm. Free.)

OTHER PARK SIGHTS. Running south of the Serpentine, the dirt horse track Rotten Row stretches west from Hyde Park Corner. The name is a corruption of Route du Roi, or King’s Road, so named because this was the royal route from Kensington Palace to Whitehall. At the southern end of Hyde Park and into Kensington Gardens there’s a cluster of statues: the goddess Diana fountain; the “family of man”; a likeness of Lord Byron; tiny Peter Pan; and a fig-leafed Achilles dedicated to the Duke of Wellington. The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain lies just south of the Serpentine while the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground is in the northwest corner of Kensington Gardens. Since 1872, Speaker’s Corner, at the northeast corner of the park across from Marble Arch, has been the only place in London where demonstrators can assemble without a permit; on Sundays you can see free speech in action as proselytizers, politicos, and various crazies dispense the fruits of their knowledge to bemused tourists.

Looking rather out of place, Marble Arch was originally intended to be the front entrance to Buckingham Palace, but palace extensions and new roadways cut off John Nash’s 1828 monument, leaving it stranded forlornly on a traffic roundabout. The arch now stands close to the former site of the Tyburn gallows, London’s main execution site until 1783. (Near the intersection of Park Ln., Oxford St., Edgware Rd., and Bayswater Rd. Marble Arch.)