Sunday Roast

Well, we figured we've been in London for four months now and haven't yet had a pub Sunday roast, and it was about time to do something about it! We've tried to partake on previous Sundays, but pubs always seemed to be sold out by early afternoon, so today we went out a bit earlier and had yummy roast beef with all the trimmings at a neighbourhood pub.

Our meal was delicious and extremely filling, so we ventured down to St. James's Park to walk some of it off. Deckchairs carpeted the grass, and appropriately so, as the temperature got up to a balmy 18'C on this lovely spring day.
Of course, park visits usually mean bird sightings, and today we saw a pair of young swans, still with a few grey feathers dotting their adult plumage,
another coot on an exposed nest,
a black swan and three cygnets (two close-by, but one a bit more carefree, dozing off and spinning around in circles a fair distance from the rest of the family), and a pair of pelicans! Each time we've been to St. James's, we've kept our eyes open for them, without success. I had recently heard that they hang around the east end of the lake, so we headed that way, and there they were--quite a remarkable sight.
The park was lovely today, with people enjoying the sun and the spring blooms creating colour all over the park.
After spending quite a bit of time in St. James's, we headed west to Fulham Broadway, a quiet area which had us wondering where all the crowds had gone. The trees gave a distinct sense of order to some of the pretty side streets: Near Bishop's Park, we came across these beautiful almshouses, founded in 1680 and rebuilt in 1869 for a dozen poor widows, now converted into (I imagine) very pricey flats.

Bishop's Park itself was quite serene, and has a lovely Thames-side location.
Although the interior was already closed for the day, we also wandered the grounds of Fulham Palace,

the country home of the Bishops of London from the 1100s until 1975. We peered in a few of the back windows and got glimpses of the interior, but will have to wait until a return visit to fully see inside.