Very Kensington

Got off to a bit of a late start on Thursday, but it turned out to be quite a day.

We took the guided tour of the "village" of Kensington in the afternoon with Adam, a very enthusiastic and articulate Scotsman.

Kensington is an upper class section of London that used to be the "country" home of King William of Orange and his hangers-on.  As Adam says, the area is "very Kensington", refined, well-preserved and artistic.
Here's Kensington Square, where the houses are just beautiful.  Adam says this square was founded at a time when it would have been surrounded by countryside, about 1688.

Many writers, like TS Elliot and William Thackeray lived in the area.  Here are their homes.  Elliot's first.

One of the most interesting aspects of Kensington is the roof top garden.  And we are not talking any ordinary rooftop garden...this is 1.5 acres with three distinct areas, six floors above the street on top of an old department store that is now offices and a restaurant owned by Sir Richard Branson, the fellow behind Virgin everything, including Virgin Atlantic Airlines.

Here's the English Garden, with its flamingos.

The walled garden....

And the Mediterranean garden, which was a bit over-the-top, so to speak.

 Adam pointed out that the gardens are accessible to the public at any time there is not a function being held in the gardens, and that Branson is nice enough to let people see his beautiful gardens.

So we are waiting for the elevators going down to the ground floor and the elevator opens and who should be in it but Branson himself, with his incredible tan and shock of white/yellow hair.  I step in and I think other people are behind me, but everyone else backs away and leaves me in the elevator alone with him.  Now I'm feeling like an idiot.  He says, so you're from the US?  Yes, I say.  I'm Alice, nice to meet you.  He shakes my hand.  Thanks, I say, for letting us see the lovely gardens.  No problem, he says.  Are you going to the Royal Wedding, I ask.  Haven't been invited, he says.  But my daughter is going.  Then we are on the ground floor and he leaves the lift and I have to wait for everyone else to make it down.  Very surrealistic.

I remember seeing an episode of Friends years ago where the guys are in London for Ross' wedding.  Joey and Chandler are touring London and happen to run into Richard Branson.  I thought, how contrived is that, what are the chances?  Apparently they are very good.

We continued the tour and came across this old church, St. Mary Abbotts, which was heavily damaged by the bombing during WW II.

Ans some "very Kensington" shops like this one that sells hats

And this one that has men's hats and second-hand, hand made clothing....

Our last stop was Kensington Palace, which has some gorgeous buildings nearby...

on a street that houses many embassies.

Kensington Palace itself is being renovated, and not just because it will be the new home of Prince William and his bride Catherine.  But the gardens are still open and they are spectacular.

We had tea at the Orangerie (for William of Orange),

The park surrounding the palace has a lot of playthings for kids, including this carousel.

From there, we took a quick trip to Leicester Square to see if there were any theater tickets available for that night and got two for Betty Blue Eyes, a new show based on the movie "A Private Function."  It's about post-war England, rationing and the Royal Wedding of Queen Elizabeth in 1947.  Very entertaining and lots of mindless fun.  We really enjoyed it.  Took the bus home and got to sleep about midnight.

Today, it's off to Brighton.