Blogs from Kensington, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington March 7th 2017

Another day. Another high rise breakfast. We were restricted today to our lofty perch in Finchley. I positioned the 2 plastic containers of Lidl instant oats on the window sill to recreate the photos yesterday from Floor 32, The Shard. At 45 pence each, the oats worked out substantially cheaper. We left for the City and hoped the Northern Line was behaving itself. We had timed tickets to go up to the Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street (otherwise known as the Walkie Talkie Building). A short walk from Bank or Monument Underground stations, the “Garden” is basically a covered roof space with bars and restaurants overlooking other familiar city landmarks like the Gherkin. The tickets are free on a limited first come, first come basis from their website and go on release approximately 2 weeks ... read more
Shoreditch
Shoreditch
Kensington Palace

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington August 29th 2015

After a wonderful day on my arrival, it was going to be a nice relaxing day venturing around City of Westminster and City of London. My first ride on the Underground from South Kensington to Westminster station. Arriving I had a walk around the area. Seeing Big Ben in the sunlight, and the houses of Parliament. Walking over the Thames bridge toward the London Eye, I decided I would talk a venture on the water taxi from the Eye to the O2. It was a nice ride on the water, looking at all the views, and hearing a little commentary of the bridges we were passing under. On arrival at the O2, it didn't look as big as I thought, but once you enter the Main entrance, it is huge. I heard there was an Elvis ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington June 13th 2015

Our final destination on our staycation was the Science Museum in South Kensington. One of my colleagues told me that the life-sized skeleton of the dinosaur would be replaced with the whale in the Natural History Museum. With a benefit of doubt, we popped in the Natural History Museum. We found the life-sized skeleton of the dinosaur in the main reception area, but it looked different from the one I had remembered. Also, the life-sized body of the whale had gone – it had moved to the backroom; we found the life-sized bodies of whales, elephant, hippopotamus and killer whales. Afterwards, we headed to the Science Museum. We looked round the exhibition rooms by the name of ‘Exploring Space’ and ‘Making the Modern World’, and ‘James Watt and our World’. We saw various rockets, satellites and ... read more
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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington May 19th 2015

Started off with a full day today. After a big flight we met Steph at Heathrow at 8.30 am. As soon as she got sight of us, she ran under the rope full pelt towards us and it was tears and hugs all round. We then organised our Oyster cards for the train and headed to our apartment in Kensington. Dropped the bags in and went for lunch at a local Kensington cafe. We then did all the attractions in and around Hyde park and Kensington palace. Then went to Stephs share house and off to an English pub for tea. We made it back to kensington by ourselves on the trains so that was a good effort. Some obsevations from today, Taxis are unique. School children all wear safety vest when out and about. The ... read more
Princess Dianna memorial
Don't post your letters here "disgusting"
Pay to "pee" or crawl under

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington July 11th 2014

Day 25 - London Revisited After a good night's sleep we headed to the London Eye. The rain made sure the lines were much more reasonable and we had tickets for the first revolution. The view was great and the digital guides in the cars were pretty neat. The rain let up a bit by the time we finished our ride and we set out for the playground Michelle had spotted from the London Eye. We spent a good half hour there as Michelle climbed and swung on the structure. we finally headed out when a couple of school groups descended on the playground. Next we headed back on the tube to the north side of London and Abbey Road Studios. Anne really wanted a picture like the famous Beatles album cover. There were some enterprising ... read more
A good view
Eye, Eye!
Ropes and Logs

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington June 29th 2014

Despite the fact that we had walked past Kensington Palace quite a few times, neither of us had visited there. My sister-in-law, who works for the Royal Historic Palaces, kindly offered the tickets for us – and we decided to visit there on 27 May. Since the reign of the William III and Mary II in 1689, Kensington Palace has been used as the royal residence and the parts of the palace still remain a private residence for members of the Royal Family – and we felt that it is a very royal-orientated palace. Many rooms had portraits of the British monarchs and their families & relatives, courtiers, large paintings and tapestries of historical events, frescos and carvings with mythological themes, and collections of blue-and-white porcelain. There were special exhibitions relating to George II in the ... read more
orangery

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington January 23rd 2013

Finally with a 12 hour flight to Helsinki and a 3 hour transit, I've finally arrived at London. Like a very exciting little kid, I was shouting within myself when the plane arrived, greeted with slight snow and an awesome weather (as compared to scorching heat). Well, firstly it is my first encounter with snow, like REAL snow, and secondly, the weather is too cooling (or Shiok in Singaporeans' terms!) for an Asian who experiences summer all year round. Thanks to my friend, George, I manage to reside my heavy luggages safely with him, before a short walk around London, near Gloucester Road and Kensington area. And I also got a quick tour of Imperial College which is in the area. Well, that was when a series of 'what-ifs' came up to me. Already been accepted ... read more
Kensington Station
Underground

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington May 29th 2012

Even though the semester was over, my adventures were not. Mom got to London on Monday early in the morning, and I met her at the airport. We dropped all of her stuff at the hotel and drank some tea so that she could regain energy. Then we headed to the Latin Quarter to get a canal tour. What we didn’t think about, though, was that we needed cash to get on the boat! Although we missed the first boat, we got time to sit down for a snack and got on a different tour. The tour was very nice, and went through a lot of London, even Regent’s park. It ended at Camden, and mom and I got off to shop. I took her to some of the cheap stands to get lunch. Although it ... read more
Regent's Canal Tour
View!
Pizza Express

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington January 6th 2012

I said to the bartender tonight, after watching a match on ESPN. "Of course you do," he said, "you're American." Which is the kind of anti-American joke I appreciate. It's funny, it's not mean-spirited (after this, he did answer my question), and I had walked right into it. I won't say it fits us, because I was friends with plenty of people on the women's rugby team at Hamilton (undergrad), so I know plenty of Americans who understand the game. Still, funny. The kind of culture-banter I appreciate. Even though I'm American and we don't understand sarcasm (see what I did there?). Anyway... Twice now I've landed in London at night, and both times the pilot has circled directly over the city before going into Heathrow. Maybe there's some complicated pilot-reason why they need to loop ... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Kensington December 1st 2011

Well, we arrived and I remember why I loved London the first time I ever visited back in 2001. London is magical. Even with a third of the city buildings covered with scaffolding due to the “sprucing up” taking place for the upcoming Olympics, London has an exciting pulse. Jim and I tried to pick up on that pulse when we arrived on Wednesday, but to be perfectly honest we dragged ourselves around from the time we arrived at 6:30 am until 1:00 pm when we were allowed to check into our room and threw ourselves fully clothed onto the bed for a nap. We walked over to Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, but the palace is being remodeled for the Olympics this summer and the Public Rooms are hosting modern art exhibits, so we skipped ... read more
Cabby Stand
Kensington Palace
Jim Phones Home




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