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Day 5 - Kensington Palace, Little Venice, and Harrod's
Our feet and legs are hurting, but onward into London we go...
Our first stop this morning was
Kensington Palace,
past home of Princess Diana and Princess Margaret. (No pictures allowed
inside). With your admission prices is included an audio tour. We saw
many dresses which Princess Diana wore.
From their website:
In 1689 William III bought the Jacobean mansion originally known as
Nottingham House from his Secretary of State, the Earl of Nottingham,
and commissioned Christopher Wren to extend and improve the house. This
included the construction of Royal Apartments for the King and Queen, a
council chamber, the Chapel Royal and the Great Stairs. A private road
was laid out from the Palace to Hyde Park Corner, wide enough for three
or four carriages to travel abreast down it, part of which survives
today as Rotten Row. Until the death of George II in 1760, Kensington
Palace was the favorite residence of successive sovereigns.
Queen Victoria was born and brought up in the Palace and news of her
accession in 1837 was brought to her there by the Lord Chamberlain and
the Archbishop of Canterbury. It had been expected that Victoria would
reign from either Kensington or St James's Palace but almost immediately
she moved to Buckingham Palace and never again stayed at Kensington.
Queen Mary (grandmother of the present Queen) was born at Kensington in
1867. The Duke of Edinburgh stayed there in his grandmother's apartment
in 1947 between his engagement and his marriage.
Today Kensington contains the offices and London residences of The
Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, The Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince
and Princess Michael of Kent. Princess Margaret, Diana, Princess of
Wales and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester used to live in
Kensington Palace and have their offices there.
Historic parts of Kensington Palace are open to the public. Kensington
Palace is also home to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, with items
of Royal, ceremonial and court dress dating from the 18th century to the
present day.
The tour was nice, but I think I would pass on Kensington Palace if I
came again.
We walked from Kensington Palace to Notting Hill. It was a very busy
place. Apparently, everyone in London goes shopping on Saturday. After a
short tube ride, we exited at Warwick Avenue for our next London Walks. This
time, we were going to see 'Little
Venice'. Here's a description of the walk:
If you fancy something completely different, this is the walk for
you. Little Venice is the prettiest and most romantic spot in town. A
unique combination of white stucco, greenery, and water, it boasts the
finest early Victorian domestic architecture in London; a Who's Who of
famous residents (Robert Browning, Edward Fox, Joan Collins, Annie
Lennox, David Gilmour, and Sigmund Freud to name but a few); and a jewel
of a "village" street. And that's not to mention its canals.
One of them - Regent's Canal - is known as the "loveliest inland
waterway in England". Part of the walk is along the canal towpath -
which to this day is studded with fragments of evidence that bring the
Age of Canals to life. And afterwards you can have tea - or a
bite to eat - at a stylish canal-side cafe.
Our guide today was Shaughan, who was my favorite guide. When I was in
London three years ago, I went on the Pub Crawl with him. He is extremely
entertaining and humorous. I high recommend any tour with him.
After a long five days of sightseeing, we thought it was time to give
Harrod's a chance. We saw the Diana and
Dodi Memorial, lots of cosmetics, and some very nice clothes. I had to
cruise through the food courts again.
After that, it was already late and time to pack. We've had a great time!
Thankfully, we've upgraded our return flights. Woohoo!
Pictures from Day Five
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