Friday, July 11, 2014

8 hours on foot!

Today was my first adventure on foot! Goal : Hyde Park. Route: Notting Hill - Palace Green - Kensington Palace - Kensington Gardens - Hyde Park. Walked all the way down Notting Hill (just like in the movie ;) ) and almost tripped over the Queen! hehe. not really. Actually today started out as one of those blah-dee-dah days. Grey Sky, chill in the air, deadpan vibes.

The road leading up to Kensington Palace however was every dog lovers dream - saw 3 dog walkers walking about 8 dogs each of all shapes and sizes! really missed some of my nearest and dearest ladies when i saw them! And the road has London's most expensive houses. Massive Victorian mansions that for the most part serve as embassies. Funnily enough, there is only about  a 20 foot gap between the houses, and no compound walls. So the Ambassador of Russia could look out his window and end up sneaking a peak of the Nepali ambassadors wife bending down to pick something up :) however i saw nothing quite as scandalous.



Boredom in tow, I reached Kensington Palace. It's ok. Just took a look from the outside. Most entry fees in uk are about 18 pounds so I'm trying to choose my visits wisely! However, i did get to see the castle wall that was bathed with flowers when Princess Diana died.

From there, i walked up to the Prince Albert Memorial and then FINALLY got to set my sights on Royal Albert Hall :) Hope to watch a show there. Let's see how well i plan my expenses. By now, i had already been on foot for four hours!


















Walked again. Down exhibition road. And then my face lit up!! The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum, and of course the crown of the day - the one thing that made all the walking worth it - The Victoria & Albert Museum!



My camera had died by this point so I couldn't take pictures of the wonderland within, but I'm not quite done with it yet. It's the kind of place that deserves an entire blogpost dedicated to it!!!

Little history - When Queen Victoria was in power, her husband Price Albert had to, well, play the role of Queen! So he was put in charge of educating the city of London about culture and art from around the world. This museum was (and still is) intended to be an educational haven for anybody interested in the arts. Thousands of people were sent around the world to learn the arts and crafts from the colonies and bring back cultural treasures as well as methods and techniques. This museum is a testimony to that. You learn from the second you put your foot in. It is so unimaginably well curated. I spent 1 hour in just the first room. By then, i and already been on foot for seven hours... and yes, i was finally tired. So i just ran through a few more rooms - glass, architecture and fashion, and will go back for a more serious affair with every floor of the place on of these days. Till then, here's a sculpture i found highly loveable - puck from a midsummer nights dream. More later! Ta!

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