What I did On My Holidays - Part 2.

[curiouswombat]

This is the first post about what I got up to once I moved from Coventry down to London. D-d flew in to London City Airport and met me at out hotel in time for dinner on Sunday evening. We were staying at The Radisson Blu Vanderbilt about 3 minutes walk from the Natural History Museum, 5 minutes from th V&A, and about 15 minutes from Kensington Palace. We got a really nice bed and breakfast deal which included an Oyster Card with £10 on it (extremely useful for travelling on the tube), afternoon tea, and free entry to Kensington Palace - which had been on our to-do list anyway.

So on Monday we went down to breakfast (and as I mentioned in the short post made at the time, got scolded by the waitress for not eating enough!), and then walked to Kensington Gardens, and thence to the Palace.

Under the cut are pictures of the gardens, and a few taken inside, but none of the costume ones- I will post those separately tomorrow as it would, otherwise, have been a very long post.

So - we walked towards the palace, and I got the weird sensation that it was... too flat...

I did wonder if it was my glasses or something, until we got a little closer...



And I realised that it really was a 2 dimensional image! There is building work at this end of the palace, and a large drawing of the palace covers all the scaffolding so that the view across the park is unaltered!

Those are pretty impressive gates, aren't they? But we walked around the corner towards the public entrance - which is not swathed in scaffolding and art-work.

Here is a rather nice statue of Queen Victoria -



Everyone seemed to be taking pictures of her head-on - but I rather like the profile shot.

It was about 9.50am by then - but the palace doesn't open until 10.00 - so we went for a stroll in the gardens -





And I found a rather smaller gate I rather like -



Here is the Tudor rose from the centre -



The doors having opened, and the twenty or so people who were waiting on the steps having gone in, we made our way towards the palace. This view caught my eye -



The cranes looked to me rather like stick insects or praying mantis(es?) or something.


Once inside we found that the public areas are well laid out, with four clearly defined 'routes' each covering a different period of the history, and each leading you back to a central area where you could get your bearings and then choose which route to follow next.

I mainly took pictures of some of the clothing on display - including dresses belonging to the Queen, Princess Margaret, and Diane Princess of Wales (usually referred to in our family as Dead Di).

But, as I said, I will post those tomorrow. In the meantime - here is a house of cards, built in the fireplace in the room where George 2nd often played cards -



D-d looked at it for a minute and then pointed out to me that I needed to look closely at the ground floor -



Yes - the house of cards has a rather beautiful loo!

And in the next room, really just a way between two other rooms, there was a display cabinet in which we spotted this -



A hand-knitted crown! There was a knitted sceptre too, but it was even harder to photograph. As was the notice that pointed out that they were replicas and not part of the actual crown jewels :)


In another room we saw an excellent display about the Great Exhibition - including a small book called 'The ABC of the Great Exhibition', that began 'A is for Artificial Limbs' and included a line or two about many of the weird and wonderful exhibits - I really like this one -




Sadly they didn't sell it in the palace bookshop - I would certainly have bought a copy!




And so - tomorrow - dresses, lots of dresses.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

What a neat idea! I understand they are still working on the bit where William and Kate and baby George will be living.

Looking forward to the dresses, you and D-d seem to have had a fabulous time.

Huggs,
Lynda

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeous summer day!

[rs9.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! So much color. I do love that two-dimensional image. That's awesome!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

What funny little displays, the book and knitted crown and house of cards complete with loo!

The gardens are beautiful. Not very hobbity, but formal gardens have a sort of geometric beauty all their own.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

All very interesting and it looked like a very lovely day as well.

[myrhiann.livejournal.com]

Your photos set me up nicely for the day ahead. What a beautiful garden, and the flat reproduction of the palace was fascinating. Also liked the house of cards with it's own teeny ablutions block!

[clodia-metelli.livejournal.com]

These are all so much fun. I love the 2-D palace and the monstrous insect and the card-castle with its bathroom. Lovely pictures!

[kathyh]

They use those 2D images in Venice when they're working on the buildings. I've got a photo of the Bridge of Sighs entirely in 2D which was rather strange.

I love the house of cards and the knitted crown. I think they must have revamped Kensington Palace since we were last there!

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

What a blast you must have had in London. That is a beautiful garden. I loved the house of cards and its cute tiny loo.

I've never bee to Kensington Palace. That's another place I must visit next time I'm in London.

[chaotic-binky.livejournal.com]

How fascinating - it is years since I went to Kensington Palace. I believe I was still in school.

The 2 dimensional image is inspired.

[desdemonaspace]

You always have the best pic posts. May I ask what camera you own?

I like that hand-knitted crown. Sort of the thing for the monarch who has everything.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

It looks a great place to visit.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

What a beautiful day. And, as always, great pictures.
In spite of working in South Ken for a few years, I never went to look at Kensington Palace.
I really like the cranes growing out to the vegetative arch. And the knitted crown.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I love the painted view. So clever! And they're missing a good thing by not selling reproductions of that book.

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

The hotel and the deal you've got sound awesome. Too funny about that palace façade - but how cool to disguise the scaffolding like that and give the visitors a beautiful view!

we found that the public areas are well laid out, with four clearly defined 'routes' each covering a different period of the history, and each leading you back to a central area where you could get your bearings and then choose which route to follow next.

You know, things like these are so immensely awesome... I encountered something like this the first time in Britain in the late 80s, and while similar helps are slowly developing outside the UK, this kind of "thoughtful tourist guidance" is something I strongly relate to Britain.

Yay to the cardhouse loo and the hand-knitted crown! ♥ The cloak-boat sounds like something any sensible elf travelling along the Anduin probably would have worn...