Trying to slow down!
There were a few tired legs this morning as a result of a big day walking the streets yesterday, and also standing for three hours at the show. The decision was quickly made over breakfast to take the metro today, and to keep things simple. Our goal: visit Kensington Palace, check out the Science Museum and Natural History Museum – then return to our waterfall hostel via Covent Garden Market. Mission accomplished!
Kensington Palace was well worth the visit – especially interesting for the children as there were a number of interactive stations, and whoever has designed the displays clearly has a wonderful creative and design flair. The rooms are novel, informative and cleverly use common objects of the period to tell the history of the palace and its inhabitants. There was also a new permanent display commemorating the life and reign of Queen Victoria who was born at Kensington Palace, and was also living there when she heard of the death of her uncle King William IV and subsequently became Queen. Kensington Palace was also the place where she met her husband Prince Albert. It was also Queen Victoria who opened Kensington Palace to the general public in 1899.
Our quick visit to the Science and Natural History museums confirmed that we would definitely return for a thorough exploration on another day. Covent Garden Market was a short tube ride away where we enjoyed soaking up the festive atmosphere and watch (and participate in) the street theatre. Mboy10 even earned himself a large oversized lollipop for his being chosen as an assistant/prop for the Charlie Chaplin act. There was quite a crowd and Mboy10 was involved for over ten minutes and he found it all a bit daunting which is unusual for our family actor-in-training! He did well despite the challenges. There were a number of street acts running – magicians, musicians, jugglers (knife throwers yesterday!) and pantomime… it reminded us of Berlin! One classical music group was so good MamaBear and Jgirl18 had bought their CD the day before. There are also numerous interesting boutique-style shops and food stalls from which we had to sample a few goodies. A good shorter day, and our feet appreciated being able to use the metro all day!
Tags: 2012, postcard: England
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