Richmond

This past Wednesday, Rachel and I rode all the way to the end of the District Line to Richmond, which is in southwest London.  I'd been there before to meet up with friends at a pub, but that had been later in the evening, and I didn't get to see much of the area.  I'd heard it has amazing parks, so when we got off the train, we headed toward Richmond Park.  On the way, we passed some beautiful views of the Thames--we were tempted to veer off our course and just hang out by the river, but we decided to press on toward the park.  Once we got there, though, we were  unimpressed.  It looked so barren compared to what we'd seen on the way.  We turned around and went to the river.

We found a dirt path which wound along the river.  I felt like I was on a nature hike: London seemed ages away. We passed cows, and bikers, and families out enjoying the day.  There were benches all along the path, and ducks and geese and kayakers on the water.  There were houses along the other side with their own little docks and decks and gardens right along the river. I love Richmond! I wouldn't mind having a house along the Thames one day.  It all looked like something out of a painting.  Once we finally decided to turn around, the water level had risen; at one point, the path was completely flooded.  We took off our shoes and socks and waded across.  We found some stone steps to sit on and wait for our feet to dry before going back to the station, and watched three friends and three dogs splash around in the river.