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Published: April 23rd 2011
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Friday 25th to Monday 28th March
Friday morning saw us on an early-ish train from Exeter to London. John managed to get some work done during the two and a half hour trip while Ali enjoyed the scenic views of the countryside. In London, we stayed in a private hotel (essentially a B&B) in Kensington, quite close to Kensington Palace and Gardens (and Peter Pan). It's a very attractive area and nearly every house is 'three (or four) up and one down' and painted white. This gives the streets a very light and airy feel. Interestingly, in nearby Notting Hill, the houses seemed to be painted in contrasting colours (often pastels). Another thing we found interesting was the numerous shared (but private) gardens. These are enclosed (locked) gardens, only accessible to the residents of the adjoining streets.
While John spent the afternoon working, Ali joined the throngs out enjoying the sunshine in Kensington Gardens and said hello to Peter Pan. On the way back she spotted an inviting corner pub, which we decided to try for a drink later. We enjoyed the (very crowded) atmosphere so much we decided to stay for dinner. The food was excellent - even though
we were just in the bar.
On Saturday we spent some time wandering around the area and found ourselves in the famous Portobello Road markets in Notting Hill. It was great despite being jam-packed with people (police were handing out brochures with tips for outsmarting pickpockets!). Most memorable of all though, were the buskers - very cool and high quality. After the previous night's good experience with corner pubs we decided to try another in Notting Hill - this one was equally good. True to the pattern, we went in for a beer and ended up staying for a meal.
John has wanted to see the British Museum of Natural History for ages, particularly the Darwin Centre, so we spent a couple of hours there at the end of the day. It's extremely good, with loads of great interactive stuff, but sadly it was so hot inside that it really detracted from the experience.
On Sunday we decided to try out the Tube - only to find the Circle Line was closed (they're doing loads of work on weekends in preparation for the Olympics). This complicated matters a bit, but we got there in the end (Baker
The Round Pond - Kensington Gardens
Everyone ventured out to enjoy the unseasonally warm weather. Street). Yes, that's THE Baker Street of Sherlock Holmes fame and our route to Regent's Park took us past his 'house' (a museum) - complete with 19th century Bobby standing guard out the front. Regent's Park houses lots of waterways, including a boating lake and a waterfowl sanctuary. It was amazing to see so many different types of water birds - especially in the centre of one of the world's largest cities. The park was fairly quiet (it was reasonably early), only a handful of people enjoying the feeble sunshine and the masses of spring flowers.
From there it was a short walk to the massive Camden Markets. These are very different from the Portobello Road Markets - while there's the usual market fare, Camden is much 'edgier' with loads of goth, punk and such. It is also an absolute rabbit warren with alleyways, arcades, street stores as well as the canal-side stores and pubs - so easy to get lost. After a while it was all starting to get a bit overwhelming - but luckily we hap'd upon a Moroccan restaurant with a quiet upstairs room.
John HAD to ride on a red double-decker bus - so
we hopped on one heading for Westminster. Where we got off happened to be just around the corner from Buck Palace so we thought we'd better have a look. We watched the guards marching up and down for a bit, then went for a stroll through St James' Park
en route to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We crossed over the Thames and did a circuit along The Embankment, across Lambeth Bridge and back to Westminster Abbey. Then it was back to Kensington on the Tube before heading to Fulham to have dinner with Ali's nephew Dennis and his girlfriend, Claudia. They said they were taking us to a "gastro-pub" which worried us for a while - to us "gastro" means a stomach bug - but they explained it's short for "gastronomic pub" and it lived up to the name - the food (and company) was great!
Our last day in London was also the last day of our trip. John spent the day working while Ali visited St Paul's Cathedral (but refused to pay the ₤14.50 entry fee!) and the nearby Fleet Street/Temple area - which she was interested to see because it features in many
of Charles Dickens' works.
After that, we sat on a 747 for 20 odd hours - what can we say!?
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