Marble Arch Mound

I had quite a lazy start to the day. Even though I knew we had to be on a train by about 10:45 I was only just getting ready at 10:30.  We took a train to Clapham, changed for a Victoria bound service where we disembarked.  PY bought us both a coffee and then we walked through Hyde Park (trying to avoid walking on the cycle paths) to the Marble Arch mound.

The Mound is described on the official website as 

Commissioned by Westminster City Council, the Marble Arch Mound is a temporary installation that brings a renewed excitement about the area and manifests the council’s vision of a Greener, Smarter, Future, Together. [source]

Westminster Council made tickets free throughout August and so, today, was the last day you could climb the 130 steps to the top for free.  As they have not announced a date to open the exhibition and cafe we decided this would be a good day to take a look.   There were a few people around when we arrived - and the lady in front of us just turned up on spec and was let it - but it wasn’t busy.  The greenery still isn’t where you would hope it would be but it’s a lot better than some of the earlier pictures said.

Having read a number of reviews I was prepared for the view.  The foliage of the trees around Marble Arch and Hyde Park meant that you couldn’t really see into the park and the angle of viewing doesn’t quite let you look down Oxford Street. Still, there are some views of London that you probably wouldn’t get in any other way. I quite liked it but I don’t think PY was that impressed. 

Afterwards, we walked back to Waterloo via Oxford Street and Regent Street and took in all the shops that had closed. Interesting to see that Gap’s flagship UK store - which I always though stood out on Oxford Street - is gone and Debenhams looks like it is about to be demolished. There are a lot of ‘Candy Stores’ around which don’t seem to be the kind of places that will attract people to shop.