Kensington Palace, Natural History Museum, and Victoria & Albert Museum
Today was a good day! The weather was beautiful.
My tour at Kensington Palace was at 10:00, so I rode the Tube there at about 9:30. I'm feeling more confident about the Tube, but I've also done fairly easy trips on it.
At Kensington we got to see rooms from Queen Victoria's childhood and from when she first became queen at age 18. Once she became queen, she lived at Buckingham.
After this I walked through Kensington Gardens to the Natural History Museum; it was only about a 15 minute walk.
These museums are so overwhelming. It's hard to know what to focus on. I'm a big dinosaur guy so knew I had to head to that section first, though. For the kids (and 35 year-old grown ass women) they have an animatronic T-Rex which the kids (and me) really enjoyed. Also they have a huge moon exhibition which was super cool. And the blue whale skeleton in the lobby is impressive!
I wasn't really spending as much time as I thought here, so I walked next door to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Talk about another overwhelming experience. I don't even know what to do in these places. I looked at a lot of sculptures and paintings and old home furnishings and ironwork and gemstones and Neanderthals. It was a lot and I enjoyed it! Both of the museums were free, so that was nice!
I'm back at the hotel now for happy hour and will search for dinner in a bit. Tomorrow is my last day for my England 2019 adventure!
My tour at Kensington Palace was at 10:00, so I rode the Tube there at about 9:30. I'm feeling more confident about the Tube, but I've also done fairly easy trips on it.
At Kensington we got to see rooms from Queen Victoria's childhood and from when she first became queen at age 18. Once she became queen, she lived at Buckingham.
She was born in this room in 1819.
This is the room in which she was told her uncle died and she had become queen.
She met Albert in this ballroom.
Her and Albert were deeply in love.
There was also an exhibition about Victoria as an adult and while she was grieving Albert, which was sad. After he died, she wore black for the rest of her life.
She was so short, barely 5 feet tall!
We also saw the King's staterooms, which were outfitted for King George II in 1727.
I had a coffee at the cafe at the palace and walked around a bit. The grounds are always so nice.
The front of the palace has the gold gate, which was currently decorated with memorials for Princess Diana. The anniversary of her death was a few days ago.
Princess Diana lived here and Prince William and Kate currently live here. Of course we couldn't see any of their rooms, sadly.
These museums are so overwhelming. It's hard to know what to focus on. I'm a big dinosaur guy so knew I had to head to that section first, though. For the kids (and 35 year-old grown ass women) they have an animatronic T-Rex which the kids (and me) really enjoyed. Also they have a huge moon exhibition which was super cool. And the blue whale skeleton in the lobby is impressive!
I wasn't really spending as much time as I thought here, so I walked next door to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Talk about another overwhelming experience. I don't even know what to do in these places. I looked at a lot of sculptures and paintings and old home furnishings and ironwork and gemstones and Neanderthals. It was a lot and I enjoyed it! Both of the museums were free, so that was nice!
I'm back at the hotel now for happy hour and will search for dinner in a bit. Tomorrow is my last day for my England 2019 adventure!