Ambassadors Hotel, Kensington, London

London has laid on superb weather for our last two days here in the United Kingdom, albeit very fresh this morning. Tomorrow promises to be even colder, but dry, which will make our progress through to Heathrow painless. Perhaps painless is not the right word, although we have shuffled items between suitcases and the weighty luggage that did my back in last Wednesday should be a little more tolerable. Alas, we do not travel light and worse still, we love books. The bequest of ill health has now spread to my dear husband, and now we are two hypochondriac curmudgeons, although I really have been trying to be cheery and bright. 

Yesterday after eating yet another wonderful breakfast, we set off on foot up to Kensington Park, and made our way through the sunny golden scene along with hundreds of locals who do this on a more regular basis, across to the Palace. We arrived about ten minutes before opening time, more by good luck than good management, because then we had no idea how long and slow the entry queues would become later in the day. 

The promotional material raves more about Princess Diana’s wardrobe exhibition than anything else, so I was a little hesitant about paying out the entry fee, however Chris was keen, and if he is happy to divest himself of our children’s inheritance, so am I. So we paid up and found there was so much more to take in that the frivolous pursuit of glamorous, glitz and privately designed outfits for day and night, work and pleasure. What a dizzy silly little thing she was, but then most of those who make their way on to the front pages of the tabloids are.

The Royals, William and Mary, bought this house in Kensington, then apparently as leafy as it is now, in the summer of 1689, hoping the village location “with very good air” would help William’s chronic asthma. They commissioned Sir Christopher Wren, he of St Paul’s Cathedral fame, to rebuild and extend the house, before moving in at Christmas time that year. It was here that Queen Victoria was born and spent her childhood, and here she met her beloved Albert. It is here that Diana lived after her divorce from Charles, and here tucked away from the roving public that both her sons have apartments these days. It really is a delightful location, with views out across onto the Serpentine and extensive parkland, although I wonder how much of these are enjoyed by the current royals with the paparazzi following their every move.

The area open to the public is divided up into separate areas with exhibitions about Victoria and Albert, Queen Mary II and her sister Queen Anne, the three German generations of women that guided and nurtured the Hanoverian Kings, and of course Diana and her fashion story. The sunken gardens are lovely too and it was beside these we sat to lunch, watched and stalked by several bold squirrels. You know that I am a push-over for these gorgeous little critters, however yesterday I had to stamp my foot several times to shoo them away.

From here we walked to West Kensington and caught the underground to Green Park, from where we walked up around past St James’s Palace and Clarence House, haunts of the past Queen Mother and more latterly of Prince Charles, neither structure very visible from street level. Then along Pall Mall and up into Piccadilly Circus where we sat on the central monument steps and listened to the buskers and took in the buzzing crowds of tourists, hoping no terrorists had chosen this afternoon to run amok. From there we took the underground back to Gloucester Road and soon back to the hotel on foot. Quite an outing for the unwell!

Later we went out again and dined at a local Greene King pub, this chosen by Chris because I have refused to have anything more to do with choosing a restaurant, deciphering their hidden charges or telling the hosts what they should do with these. I play the submissive dumb wife, albeit not glamorous or blonde. As it turned out the meal was delicious, we paid the listed price and came away without a repeat of the previous day’s fiasco.

After a wakeful night, I certainly did not feel like a grand city safari today, but nor did I wish to hang around all day between the four walls of our little room, so we set off again, lunch purchased at the nearby superstore so all options were on the table. We walked westward along Cromwell Road, until it became West Cromwell Road, on past Earl’s Court, turning down New North Road into Fulham in search of the market. Here market stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and meat, were strung out along the main road, and the unsophisticated locals were busy stocking up from their favourite vendors. The shops that line the road behind the stalls are a mish-mash of general stores and food stores, no doubt with decade-old history and not a chain store to be seen. On we went down into Fulham proper, where no doubt we would have seen the smarter shops had we been bothered, but instead we caught the underground through to Westminster, joining the throngs of tourists in the city centre, soon escaping eastward along the River Thames until we reached the Tate Britain. 

This is my favourite art gallery, along with the National Portrait Gallery I suppose, and we spent some time here, before walking north to Victoria Station and catching the underground back to Gloucester Road. I remarked to Chris that if someone wanted to trace our rail route from our Oyster cards, they would find it all rather confusing, because we have covered great gaps on foot. I was glad to arrive back at the hotel and put my feet up, and would have napped longer had Chris’s brother not phoned with a query about the car keys. He has picked our Kia up today and it is now under his care until we return next year.

So there is little left of our 2017  UK trip, but another meal out tonight, god-knows-where, and our progress through to Heathrow tomorrow before we fly back to New Zealand. It has been an excellent six months (less a few days; very important to note) and I look forward to another episode in 2018, just a pity I have both begun and ended this one with less than good health.