Kensington Gardens--and attack of the "wild" parakeets!
Today, My Lovely Life Abroad visits Kensington Gardens, a park full of surprises! Although many consider Kensington Gardens to be a part of Hyde Park, it is actually one of London's eight Royal Parks, and comprises 255 acres roughly separated from Hyde Park by the Serpentine and Long Water. With so many things to see and do inside Kensington Gardens, today I'm lucky enough to be with my friend Amy, who lives nearby, and so we are getting her "secret insider" tour! We start out at Lancaster Gate Underground Station, and enter the park near the Victoria Gate Lodge, a prior gatekeeper's home, which is a little known cover for a pet cemetery hidden behind the home. The pet cemetery isn't generally open to the public (if you are truly interested, contact royalparks.org.uk and pay £50), but if you peek through the hedges, you can catch a glimpse of some of the 300 tombstones within. In 1881, the gatekeeper, known as Mr. Winbridge, bega...