Day 4 - Palaces, Parks and Fountains... Oh, My!

Friday's itenerary started out with us travelling to Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace is the place where Princess Diana lived post-divorce, and where William and Kate will have an apartment for when they are in London. No, we didn't see either of them while we were there. In fact, we didn't see a lot of it, because again, part of it was under construction. However, what we

did see was pretty fantastic. The gardens were amazing and I could just imagine taking a book, a lawn chair, and my drink out there and spending hours... on a cooler day. The day we were there was rather warmish... in the 80's. I know, I know... you all were sweltering in the 90's on the same day, but for London, this was rather hot!

The tour for Kensington Palace was not your usual guided tour filled with historic bits of info and such. Actually, being a fan of historic bits and such, I would have preferred that. But, what they had set up was a search for 7 Princesses who'd lived in the Palace and while you roamed from room to room to figure out the names of the princesses, you could read info on plaques and such about the princesses. Unfortunately, the rooms were too darkly lit for my myopic monocles to make out the info. Plus I was hot and sweating. I don't know if it was just me (and the impending feverish frenzy into which my vacation would spiral) or if it was the weather and the fact that the Palace just wasn't air conditioned to my preferences, but...

We had lunch at the Orangery - which was a beautiful building, built on the Palace grounds, for some Queen, used as a green house. It was at the Orangery that we had "Tea". Well, I had parts of a chicken wrap and some lemonade, but Haley, Mom and Holly shared the tiny finger sandwiches and tea and a dessert consisting of a huge baked meringue, raspberries, and cream. I stupidly didn't think to take a picture of it until after it had all been scarfed down. So I took a picture of the dessert counter as we left instead.

After spending the morning and lunch at Kensington Palace, we next walked through Hyde Park toward the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain and then ultimately on to Buckingham Palace. Along the way, we walked around a HUGE pond, or lake, or I'm not sure what, and there were tons of ducks, geese, and other miscellaneous birds. They were all very friendly, posing for pics. The birds that really struck my fancy were solid black except for the Phantom of the Opera masks they wore on their face. We took a pic of them with the intention of asking Tom (the brother-in-law who knows birds, fowl and fair) what they were. We'll see if Tom can hang on to his title by identifying this bird/duck.

After leaving the pond/lake thing, we continued along the path toward the Diana Fountain. Let me just say that it was a long stinking way from where we were to this fountain. Sigh... My dogs were barking... well, not as much as they could have been had I not be wearing my good Sketchers, but still... my puppies were tiring fast... and then there was the heat. I may have lost 60-ish pounds at that point, but I still had (have) quite a bit more to mislay.

Anywho, as we continued to wander, Holly and I came across the Royal Albert Hall. Although we got a picture, we did not have time to investigate how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall. Mostly because we had to get to this fountain or die trying.

After getting somewhat lost-ish, and asking for directions, we finally found the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. It was not like your average fountain, but a concrete circle on which water flowed. According to the sign at the entrance, they wanted the design to be open to all, much like the Princess. After I got over my initial what the?, I liked it. Again, I could see myself sitting on a blankie, with a book and big ol'glass of iced tea (not very British, I know) and relaxing on the grounds around it.

After a short rest at the fountain, we continued our journey to Buckingham Palace. By the end of the day, I was close to not giving a damn, but knew I'd regret not going to see it. So we continued on.

Once we got there, though, the Queen's standard was flying, which meant she was home (or at least in town) and we couldn't see anything other than what we could see through the gates. However, it was very impressive and picturesque. I'm glad we made it.. but then we had to make it back to the apartment before passing out.

We made it, in fact, once we got on the tube to ride back, we got a bit of energy back, we decided to give the other Chinese restaurant between the station and the apartment a try for dinner. At this restaurant, I ordered my beloved chicken in garlic sauce which, in the States, comes with onions, mushrooms, celery, and water chestnuts along with the chicken in said garlic sauce. Not at this restaurant. I got a piece of chicken, white breast meat, in garlic sauce. It was good, and since I couldn't eat much of the veggies anyway, it was fine, but I still missed my crunchy veggies.

After dinner, Holly and Haley went on to hit the internet cafe and Mom and I headed home. I took a shower and hit the bed. To sleep, perchance to dream, of the exciting adventures the next day held for us..zzzzz...zz..zzz..zzz