Day 3 - Wed. Nov. 18, Sarah and Dad caught the tube from the local station and after a couple of transfers arrived at Notting Hill. Sarah had a book (given to her by some very cool parents) of walking tours of London. Sarah guided Dad on the Notting Hill walk which winds it's way past street after street of very upscale Victorian Townhouses and up and down Portobello Road, which is lined with fun shops and markets. Notting Hill apparently was a run-down section of West London that was transformed in the 1980s from an enclave of multi-families living in each grand town-home to be contemporary, fashionable and affluent. One of the amenities of the neighborhoods are the "key parks" within many of the blocks. Key parks are not public, but accessible only to those with "keys", i.e. local residences, whose townhouses are adjacent to the parks, which in many cases are hidden from street view. Not only were the townhouses luxury the cars parked out in front were like an exotic car show.
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| An Upscale Clothier Housed In What Was Previously a Clothing Manufacturing Shop (Looks like the building came with all the the left over sewing machines) |
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| Interesting that Cobblestone Streets are not all Vintage |
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| Sarah Made Some Joyful Book Purchases |
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| A Rare Street Entrance to a Key Park (Photo taken thru the bars of a locked gate.) |
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| This Pizza Place Likely Has Other Delivery Vehicles than the One Parked in Their Front Window |
Sarah and Dad walked south from the Notthing Hill toward Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Their last turn to take them to Kensington Gardens took them onto Bishop's Ave., a.k.a. Billionaires Row. A guard house prevents vehicle access and "no photography" is posted. One can only look and admire as they stroll down the most exclusive street in London, past Embassies, Ambassador and Saudi Prince residences. (As there is no photography you can click
HERE to see this avenue on which the homes average in the hundreds of millions GBP.)
Sarah and Dad's destination was Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace has a lot of history. It was the primary royal residence throughout most of the 1700's. Then it housed minor royalty in it's several apartments in the shadow of Buckingham Palace. Most notably Queen Victoria grew up in Kensington Palace until she assumed the throne as a young woman. In fact most of the displays open to the public in the state rooms are about the life of Victoria and Albert. FYI - Kensington Palace was Lady Di's residence after her divorce from Charles and it is where she raised her boys, William and Harry. Prince William and Kate recently moved to Kensington Palace and it is now their primary residence.
From Kensington Palace Sarah and Dad strolled down the paths of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. They exited the park to walk around The Royal Albert Hall (named after Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert). In front of the Royal Music Academy the two bumped into a pair of Mormon Missionaries. (Is it not amazing that in any major city on the world one can bump into happy, conversant Mormon Missionaries?) One Elder was from Australia and happened to share a flat with Elder Taylor Jensen of Arcadia. Arrangements were made to meet Elder Jensen at Hyde Park Chapel. Sarah and Dad grabbed a sandwich at a little corner shop on Exhibition Road, by which time it started to rain and then REALLY rain. Sarah directed Dad to the "underground" which exited right across the street from the chapel. (In England the underground is a pedestrian thoroughfare which is
under ground.)
From the Hyde Park Chapel it was just a hop across the street - Exhibition Blvd. to the Victoria and Albert museums. The V&A is the largest museum in the world. In it's 145 galleries are some of the worlds best collections of fine art, natural history, furniture, jewelry, glass, science, textiles, building, etc... etc... Sarah and Dad only had time to visit the Natural History museum. Dad enjoyed the architecture as much as the exhibits.
From the V&A Sarah walked Dad to the area where she had stayed the week prior to her studies in Madrid 3 months before. They walked past the Tower of London and across Tower Bridge to a canal district with magnificent yachts and fine eateries.
