Richmond Park
There are tons of lovely places in London. One of my favourite places I visited this time was Richmond, which is situated in the west of London. It is famed for its location alongside the River Thames.
Richmond is home to Richmond Park, which is famous for its wild deer and vast green spaces; Kew Gardens, a world-renowned botanical garden which was founded dating back to the 1700s; and the historic Richmond Theatre.
My older daughter started attending a summer school in London. She was there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, so Sara and I had some free time while she was at school.
On Day 5, we decided to visit Richmond Park with the slight hope of seeing some wild deer. I had read reviews from people who had spotted deer there, so I tempted Sara to go there, by asking, "Would you like to see deer there?” Of course, she said yes.
After taking the Tube to Richmond Station and then catching a bus to the park, we finally arrived at the entrance. However, as soon as Sara saw the sign for Richmond Park, she seemed satisfied and said, "I don't want to walk any more!"
To be fair, Richmond Park is enormous. It is said to cover about 2,500 acres. I cound not imagine how big was, so I looked it up on the internet and found that it is six times bigger than Hyde Park. Hyde Park already feels huge to me, so a park six times larger sounded massive.
We had a short stroll at least. We came across a viewpoint where we could look out over the city from a hilltop. The view was stunning. The old buildings with skyscrapers were absolutely fantastic. 23 years ago, when I lived in London, there were no modern high-rise buildings at all.
Now, you can see quite a few high-rise buildings in central London. Canary Wharf, in particular, looks a lot like New York City.
Yet, the city still has plenty of beautiful historic buildings and traditional architecture and this contributes to London's allure. There is traditional architecure, for instance, King's Cross St Pancras has got a Victorian Gothic architecture.
Also I still see horse poo on the streets around King's Cross. I get a sense of how London combines modernity with tradition and nature. I think that is one of London's greatest strengths—it offers the best of both worlds.
A few days later, we visited Kew Gardens in Richmond again. Kew Gardens is amzing. It is a world famous beautiful botanic gardens with 500 acres of woodland. The gardens are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They are really big. Since my younger daughter insisted on going to the Chidren's Garden to play and we ended up spending most of our visit there.
Fourtunately, we even ran into a wild fox!!!
While London is such a diverse city with people from all over the world, Richmond is an affluent area where I can still get a sense of traditional British posh culture. People there are very calm and kind and seem enjoying life at a slower pace.
As mentioned earier, the UK has modern and nature aspects. Indeed the city benefits from the best of both worlds. I learned that this is because the government has implemented the Green Belt policy, which protects nature and prevents urban sprawl. As a result, central London is home to many high-rise buildings, yet just a few miles away you can find vast green spaces and wild animals. I think this can be attributed to the Green Belt policy.
The other day, I met a man at work who is from Wales. He told me that there are no buildings around his home in the countryside and that life there can be extremely boring. I am not quite sure whether policies such as the Green Belt, or underpopulation of rural areas, may have a negative impact on local people's lives. There aren't many job opportunities which might make it difficult for young people to stay for good. There are definitely pros and cons, but I still believe that preserving nature is important and ultimately benefits us all.
That's all for today about my journey in the UK.
I hope to share another story in a few days.