Kensington Palace, V&A Museum, Harrod's

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My Day Friday, May 22, 2009

Whew, I’ve been meaning to catch up with my blog! It’s hard, though, because it takes me a long time to write and upload pictures. Plus, I have to go to McDonald’s in order to use the free internet. SO, on Friday, May 22 at almost noon, I walked on over to Tesco Express. There’s lots of these around; they’re like little convenience/grocery stores. I bought a sandwich, some drinks, and a little plastic container of fruit. I took a short trek to Kensington Gardens inside Hyde Park, and looked around for a nice spot to sit and eat lunch. At first I sat on a bench, but then decided to sit by the Round Pond. I took a seat in one of those green deckchairs that they have sitting out, and within a few seconds, a man walked up to collect the money I owed for sitting in the chair. They must keep a pretty close eye on people. It cost me 1.5 pounds, which is around $2. I think it would allow me to sit there for 2 hours. It was nice; I ate my lunch as I fed the ducks and birds and watched people walk by.

A very short walk later, I was at Kensington Palace, which is also (appropriately) in Kensington Gardens. I had walked by there before, but I hadn’t taken the tour yet. I knew that some of Princess Diana’s dresses would be there, so I was looking forward to seeing them. There were several parts to the tour, and they all had very different feels to them. For instance, when I first began the tour, there were glass display cases of what life was like back a long time ago, and what kind of fabric was used for the royal guys’ clothing. I had an audio guide just like at Westminster Abbey, and so I was listening to that long the way. This part was not extremely interesting. Pretty soon, I walked into these rooms with a whole bunch of fabrics and sewing supplies from long ago. Then all of a sudden, it seemed the whole place became a museum that only talked about debutantes. There were lots of rooms devoted to what life was like as a debutante and a…hmm I can’t remember what they called the young men. There’s a special name or term for different things related to this. Apparently, 1957 or 1958 was the last year that young girls were “presented to society”, and it showed a picture of all the girls lined up outside Buckingham Palace. See, they all got to meet the queen and had to curtsey for her. They spent tons of money on clothes and lessons, etc. It talked about all the things they had to know how to do to be considered a proper debutante, like dance. Oh, I think I just thought of what they called the guys - they called them “Deb’s Delights.”

Anyway, there were lots of dresses on display that girls had worn to their “debut” during the last year it occurred, as well some of their accessories. There were quotes by some of the girls, as well. One of the rooms you walked into had a whole bunch of t.v. screens with video descriptions and interviews with past debutantes and deb’s delights. Another part of the tour included some of Diana’s dresses, like I was expecting, but there weren’t too many of them. Some of them she wore to premieres.

Then the last and one of the most enjoyable parts of the tour was the actual tour of the palace. Finally! Unfortunately, even though this was Diana’s home for a while, nothing was mentioned about where she resided in the palace. I walked through various rooms with fancy paintings on the ceilings. I went through the queen’s gallery, the king’s gallery, and some bedrooms. My favorite room was Queen Victoria’s bedroom that she shared with her mom before she became queen. See, they had moved to the palace once they realized that Victoria would indeed become queen one day. So she and her mom shared a room, and they even had her bed in there! That was actually the very room where she was awakened and told that she was (about to become) queen. Then, according to my Original tour bus, she left Kensington Palace for Buckingham Palace to get away from her mother. She was the first royal to ever live in Buckingham Palace. That was in…Mom would know this. It was either 1836 or 1837…I’ll say ’37.

Anyway, there was a picture (well, ok, a painting) on the wall of her as a little girl. She was cute, and someone else on the tour made a remark about that as well. I guess you don’t really picture her being a cute little girl because usually when you see pictures of her, she is old and pasty and doesn’t look happy. On the audio tour it said that there are accounts of her playing along outside in the gardens. All of this made an impression on me. The fact that I was standing in her bedroom, the gardens were right outside, she was close to my age when she became queen (younger than me!), and she was the first resident of Buckingham Palace were all pretty neat. Plus, the whole living with her mother and sharing a bedroom with her.

I noticed a small, white door with an arched top in a hallway. I wondered about it, and at the end of the tour (which was like 5 minutes later), I asked a man who worked there what it was for. Turns out, it’s for fire purposes; like if there’s a fire there or something, I think they can get water from there. Then he goes, “Yeah, it’s not for the dwarf butler.” Hehe.

I walked around in the gift shop for a while, and I noticed this really pretty, lacey purse-looking object. It could be used as a coin purse, but it wasn’t very practical because it tied shut with a ribbon. I wasn’t sure how I would use it, but I really wanted it because it was so pretty. So I finally decided to go ahead and buy it, and wouldn’t you know it, when I opened it up, there were tissues in it! Aha! That’s what I can use it for. I also bought a postcard.

After that I headed on over to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Luckily, I knew exactly how to get there! What do you know! After my struggle to find the Science Museum on my first day here, I knew how to get to Exhibition Road now, and I knew that the V&A Museum as they call it, was right across from the Science Museum. I remembered my History of Western Dress instructor talking about this museum a few semesters ago, because it features clothes from different centuries. I was looking forward to seeing all the old clothes, and in fact, that’s really the reason why I went. They had a lot of other rooms containing many different things, some of which I looked at. I enjoyed looking at the clothes that were old or were vintage designer duds and which included a date (on which it was made), but they also had lots of modern items that were designed by fashion school students. Some of them were VERY modern indeed. Reading all the descriptions of the clothing, it gave me a real feel for all the things a student needs to learn in order to be a designer. There’s way more than you’d think! I mean not only do they need to know how to sew and draw; they also need to know what happens when you cut the fabric this way or sew that way or what this stitch does to the overall look of the outfit. It’s all very detailed stuff. They need to know about types of fabric, as well, because that matters a lot. I can see why you need to go to school for it. I have a whole new appreciation for designers. 😊 However, I still think they charge too much.

There was also an area that had lots of costumes from old movies and theatre productions, but unfortunately, pretty much all of them seemed to be from British films. So, none of them really held any significance for me. They had a vest that Tom Thumb wore. There were other rooms with jewelry and photos. One photo had a rip in the middle of it. It wasn’t so much a rip than what looked like the paper was trying to explode. It happened when the photographer was trying to take a picture of the sun, I believe, and the heat or light or something caused this to happen. Another picture that was taken in what looked to be dark, scary, foggy forest was purposely taken twice; the film was purposely double-exposed. I never tried to do that on purpose!

The gift shop was great. It was really big and had all kinds of stuff. I bought 2 rings made of beads that are really cool; you’d have to see them. It could probably fit almost any size finger because they sort of stretch. Unfortunately, I think it was later that day when I could only find one of the rings! I hope I have the other one. I suppose I should look for it, because I may have to go back and buy another one.

Oh yeah, and there were tons of sculptures and busts, but I wasn’t too interested in looking at those. Many, many objects from other countries, including really ancient items, were on display. I took a look at some of those things.

Afterwards, I walked to Harrod’s department store, a super-famous, kind of fancy store here in London. It’s owned (as far as I know) by Mohamed Al Fayed, who is the father of Dodi Fayed, who was Princess Diana’s boyfriend when she died. Dodi died in the accident, too. Anyway, I bought some pastries and sweets there. The store layout is a little confusing! The rooms seem to be square/rectangular (that in itself is not the confusing part), and they just…it just seems like you’re going in a circle. I was having a hard time figuring out how to get out of the place. You enter one room, and it’s fruits and vegetables, you enter another and it’s pastries and sweets, etc. That reminds me…there were a couple of items I may go back and buy.

For some reason I went over to Leicester Square (which is not closeby). I can’t remember why I did! That’s where you buy all the theatre tickets and go see shows. I didn’t go to the theatre that night or see a movie, but I did buy pizza. 😊 I was walking along, and there were these pizzas on display, and you could buy pizza by the slice. There was a guy standing at the counter, who greeted me, and I decided to get a couple pieces and eat inside the restaurant. It was ok; there wasn’t enough cheese on it, in my opinion. I ate my pastries for dessert.

I then went back on the tube and got off at my tube station. I walked to McDonald’s, gave them a little business by buying a bottle of water, and used their free internet. I think that was the time when the guy at McDonald’s was like, “Water?” I think he was surprised that was all I was getting, but there was no sense in buying a hamburger since I had just eaten pizza!

Ok, so there aren't many pictures for May 22 because most of them turned out really bad! I couldn't use flash inside Kensington Palace, so they're all blurry.

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Photos

Queen Victoria's room in Kensington Palace (before she became queen)
It's very bad quality because I couldn't use flash!!

some steps in the jewelry room at the V&A Museum
right after this they told me I couldn't take pictures in this room