An afternoon at the Heath

We've had more holidays than business days here lately: each of the last two weekends has been of the four-day variety. There were Good Friday and Easter Monday, then the Royal Wedding and the cleverly named "Early May Bank Holiday" (I'm going to credit Thatcher for it not being called May Day like it is in other countries, but I have no facts to back that up).

We spent last week's Easter Monday bank holiday at Hampstead Heath, one of London's many beautiful green spaces (royal and otherwise). The Heath (as we call it...and by we, I mean me and Bethie...I think there are other "heaths" in London) is a large park by city standards. By way of comparison, it is 790 acres to Central Park's 843 and Golden Gate Park's 1017. The Heath is at one of London's highest elevations and makes you feel like you're in the country, all just a dozen or so stops up the Northern Line from Clapham.

We started our day in Hampstead, which feels a bit like Georgetown: quaint, picturesque, and staggeringly expensive. We picked up a picnic lunch at Paul and made our way to the Heath.

We spent some time in the meadows:

And some time by the ponds:

It seems every group has their own bathing pond at the Heath: there's one for men, one for "ladies"...and though it's not an official designation, we found one for dogs.

We had a "whippy and a flake":

And we ended our day with a hearty pub meal at the Holly Bush, though not all of us stayed awake for the meal's end.