Another 15km walk today, wandering through the posh streets to Kensington Palace for the first stop.
At the Palace you can visit the King's and Queen's state apartments, and an exhibition of Princess Diana's clothing. The Orangery has been turned into a cafe, and there's a nice sunken water garden out the front. The rest of the place is off-limits unfortunately, so a bit of a disappointment. But first you have to walk past the official Palaces' ice cream truck.
Glad I'm not a staff member here and have to climb all these - have I mentioned I don't do stairs?
Impressive long gallery.
Main entry stairs
Clever use of painting to give depth - flat ceilings looked curved, flat surface looks like gold leaf curved woodwork, etc
Orangery
Gardens with palace in background.
Next on to the Albert Memorial. Incredible ornate huge structure erected by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband, Prince Albert, at the age of 42. Even the fencing (and its shadow) is fabulous.
Across the road then to the Royal Albert Hall. Why is there only a picture of half it? Because AGAIN there is scaffolding all over the other half (like so many other attractions we saw this trip).
I went inside to join a guided tour to be told that the entire afternoon had been sold out. Will try again another day hopefully.
Walked back to Piccadilly to do a last minute visit to Harrods (via the Bridges' convenience store)
Only had 45 mins here before they closed so that will also require a return visit. So many people inside, hopefully if I go in the morning there might be less.
Once again while some of the 'planned' sights disappointed, on the long walk home I found a treasure. This beautiful building was, according to Wikipedia, the first Michelin headquarters in the UK, opened in 1911. When Michelin moved out in 1985 two men who loved the building bought it, restored it and opened their respective businesses in it.
It has so many lovely feature ... all around the outside are tiled 'plaques' like this.
Imposing front entrance
There's even stained glass windows featuring the Michelin Man advertisements.
The weather is still being kind, 27 degrees and broad daylight until late, so wandering around at 7.00pm taking photos above is still feasible.
At the Palace you can visit the King's and Queen's state apartments, and an exhibition of Princess Diana's clothing. The Orangery has been turned into a cafe, and there's a nice sunken water garden out the front. The rest of the place is off-limits unfortunately, so a bit of a disappointment. But first you have to walk past the official Palaces' ice cream truck.
Glad I'm not a staff member here and have to climb all these - have I mentioned I don't do stairs?
Impressive long gallery.
Clever use of painting to give depth - flat ceilings looked curved, flat surface looks like gold leaf curved woodwork, etc
Orangery
Gardens with palace in background.
The planned walking route took me through Kensington Gardens, a huge park with central pond/swans/ducks etc. There's even deck chairs, but you have to pay £1.60 per hour to hire them.
Next on to the Albert Memorial. Incredible ornate huge structure erected by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband, Prince Albert, at the age of 42. Even the fencing (and its shadow) is fabulous.
Across the road then to the Royal Albert Hall. Why is there only a picture of half it? Because AGAIN there is scaffolding all over the other half (like so many other attractions we saw this trip).
I went inside to join a guided tour to be told that the entire afternoon had been sold out. Will try again another day hopefully.
Walked back to Piccadilly to do a last minute visit to Harrods (via the Bridges' convenience store)
Only had 45 mins here before they closed so that will also require a return visit. So many people inside, hopefully if I go in the morning there might be less.
Once again while some of the 'planned' sights disappointed, on the long walk home I found a treasure. This beautiful building was, according to Wikipedia, the first Michelin headquarters in the UK, opened in 1911. When Michelin moved out in 1985 two men who loved the building bought it, restored it and opened their respective businesses in it.
It has so many lovely feature ... all around the outside are tiled 'plaques' like this.
Imposing front entrance
There's even stained glass windows featuring the Michelin Man advertisements.
The weather is still being kind, 27 degrees and broad daylight until late, so wandering around at 7.00pm taking photos above is still feasible.
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