London in 3.6 Hours

The writer Samuel Johnson quipped “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life”.

Johnson was writing a couple hundred of years ago before London became the really wired, hip, swinging, cool, multiethnic-and-working-nicely-thank-you place that it is today. If Sam was still writing he might say “when you are tired in London, just seek out one of her many green spaces for a bit of rest.”

While New York has a Central Park ~ London has so many that the Tourist Board has a separate brochure intended to help visitors find the right one. London ~ as has been noted by many observers ~ is just a series of villages surrounded by green.

Most visitors know Hyde Park (Speakers' Corner) or Green Park in front of Buckingham Palace. Take care if you are planning to meet someone in Hyde Park because of its size ~ about 650 acres. The park is contiguous with Kensington Garden which together (according to the guide book) is larger than the Principality of Monaco. See you by the yew tree at noon. Maybe.

If Hyde Park is not your cup of tea ~ then try Regent’s Park just to the north (at 480 acres). I had the good fortune of living in North London at one time in the 1970’s ~ roughly between Regent’s Park and Hampstead Heath. The “heath” is wild, rambling and hilly with its own ponds and woodlands. Stagger out of the Freemason Arms next to the heath at closing time and you had better know your way home.

Wimbledon is best known for its tennis but try crossing the Common in the rain ~ at 1,100 acres. Does size really matter? Further to the south is Richmond Park at 2,500 acres and the largest Royal Park (again according to the Guide) with its own herd of free roaming deer.

Just outside of London is Windsor Great Park at 5,000 acres. Cross all the way to the east ~on the Central Line on the Underground~ to Theydon Bois and there you can enter Epping Forest at 6,000 acres or 12 miles in depth. London’s “green lung” is how locals describe the forest.

Tired of London? Get real. Just go for a walk.