Gardens and parks in and around London

Hello friends,

How are you? I hope that everything is going well for you.

Before continuing my report about my experience in London, I would like to write some lines to my dear friends.

Hi Naheed! The students’ winter holiday begins on Saturday, 20th December 08 and lasts until 12th January 09 in Slovakia. It means that students have a three-week holiday. You can imagine how happy my son is!!! Three weeks… without early wake- ups, enjoying the freedom of vacation – playing computer games, going out with friends and last but not least Christmas. Oh, the sweet smell of student’s years… Anyway, I am wondering whether the teachers make good students. I am sure you will make a go as a yoga teacher. Good luck and enjoy your vacation!

Cris, thank you for the link. I have showed it to Csilla, as well. It is really kind of you to offer to be her guide in Argentina. Thank you. It is always good to know that there are such kind-hearted people like you.

Anna, I think you have found the best place to improve your English skills. I have been visiting this site since June 2006. I do not exaggerate if I say that the great majority of my English knowledge comes from here.

Bia, good luck with your IELTS exams. My daughter also took it in 2005 before applying to go to university in England. I wish you a successful future as an interpreter.

Mahjabeen, wow! I did not know that my name is common in Pakistan. It is interesting. Anita is the pet form of Spanish Ana, made from Ana plus Juanita, meaning: favour, grace. It was not a problem to order a cuppa or buy tickets in England. However, I tried to overcome my embarrassment when I spoke in English as speaking is far far more difficult than writing for me but I think I managed it quite well. We should ask Carrie whether she understood me. In English there is a sentence “What's the magic word? “ - said to a child who has not said 'please' when asking for something. I tend to say that the magic words are “please and slowly” when I talk to someone in English. Thanks for reading my blog and commenting on it.

Hania, it is my pleasure.

James, I think you are right; I try to be diligent about my work. I believe that the opportunity to blog here is really special and I want to make use of it. Unfortunately, I could not send my entry yesterday because I was busy. I do not think that one chicken leg is too much for lunch for an adult person. Oooh! My son manages to eat two or three pieces of chicken legs.

Toni, I am glad to hear that bullfighting shows are forbidden in Barcelona. That is good news. I tried sangria but have not tasted the Spanish cured ham (mountain ham) and paella yet. A reason for me to go back to Spain! Yippee! I told you the other day that I come from a small village where people grow healthy vegetables and fruit for their own use. Almost every person keeps some animals. Some raise pigs, poultry or rabbits others keep dogs and cats only. Some people have a true traditional pig-feast 2 or 3 times a year. They invite relatives or friends to help with the work and then they spend many hours together eating and drinking. People prepare cured ham here too. The method of preparing it is more or less same as in Spain. The biggest difference is in the lengths of smoking and we do not use air drying like you in the mountains. Boiled ham is a typical meal eaten at Easter here. Just imagine, my pen friend from Spain has sent turrón to me for Christmas so I can try it too.

Ok, getting back to gardens and parks in and around London. Well, Csilla and I visited Kew Gardens in southwest London one day. We went there on the Underground. I am always amazed how easily Londoners can travel and reach the destinations where they want to go. Anyway, so the gardens were marvellous. We spent the entire day there but we could not visit everything as the garden is extremely large. I think that people should visit this garden in every season because it could be so different in spring, summer, autumn and winter, for example we were not able to look at the blooming rhododendron or the herb garden, to name but a few. What I liked the best was the new treetop walkway which is 18 m high and 200 m long and takes visitors into the tree canopy. However, the leaves had all fallen so we could not see any birds sitting in their nests. What a pity! Anyway, I enjoyed this tour dearly. I have attached a couple of photos for you.










One afternoon, when Csilla finished her work earlier we went to Hyde Park to see what Winter Wonderland was. Csilla said: “even David Beckham takes his children to Winter Wonderland when they come home”, so we thought it was something to see. Well, it is a fair; it is London's most spectacular winter attraction with rides, German Market, Ice Rink, Giant Wheel, restaurants, cafes, and bars. The park looked very festive with its coloured lights and atmospheric Christmas songs. The weather was quite cold that afternoon so we tried Pimm’s winter which is a truly delicious winter warmer. Yummy! It was a lovely afternoon.





An other day we did a little sightseeing by a double-decker and went to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park where we visited the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain. These parks are beautiful. Just take a look at the pictures







I also went to Covent Garden which is not a garden with trees and grass. It is a market and there are so many interesting things to look at. I saw a street performer in front of the Market that was really interesting. Do you see him?






Of course, there are many others parks in London but I wanted to show you the ones I visited during my last trip.

I do hope you like these pictures and today’s entry as well. I enjoyed reading your comments, as always. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Take care,

Anita

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