London Trip Part 8: Kensington Gardens

It’s possible we might have overloaded Frankie on museums. On her last day, she said “Museums are boring, boring, boring! All you do is walk around and look at things.”

The poor girl needed a little fresh air and a some running around time. So, we decided to spend our last afternoon in London at Kensington Gardens.

Kensington Gardens is an absolutely huge park. Other than Central Park in New York, I really can’t think of anything quite like it. It’s 275 acres of green grass, lakes, royal monuments, kiddie rides, and trees. In the center of the park is Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana spent her last years.

In Kensington Gardens, we saw people jogging, bicycling, having a picnic lunch, and just generally lounging about in the sunshine. After a long stroll, Frankie spent most of her time at the Princess Diana Memorial Park.

It was a really lovely playground with a Peter Pan theme. There was a treehouse, a pirate ship, teepees, a giant sandbox, and lots of other fun nooks and crannies to explore. The playground, although large, was filled to capacity on the day we were there. No surprise, since it was an abolutely beautiful day. The playground staff only allow a certain number of guests in the playground at a time, so we had to wait in line almost an hour before we were able to go inside. That might sound nuts, but actually I thought it was totally worth the wait. The maximum number of people allowed in the playground was relatively small. That meant that once we got inside, it was really pleasant. It wasn't jam packed, an Frankie didn't have to wait for any of the playground equipment. There was plenty of room to play comfortably. I was even able to find  bench in the shade in a back garden where there was absolutey no one else around. It was very peaceful and quiet.

Frankie, though, had a wild and crazy time. Matt pushed Frankie and a gaggle of girls on this big swing for what must have been an hour. All of the girls were laughing their heads off, likely dizzy from all the back-and-forth.

When we told Frankie we had to go, she got to choose one last thing to do at the playground. She made a beeline for this giant pirate ship and just about scared me to death by climbing all the way up to the top of the crow's nest. There were a ton of kids in the little tube, and once she got to the top she had a little moment of panic when she realized she didn't know how to get down. I thought I was going to have to send in a rescue squad, but Frankie summoned up all her courage and figured out a way to shimmy down the tube past all of the other kids. I was proud of her, but mostly just glad to have her back on land.