Kensington

Although Kensington is very tourist-y, I love it. Maybe it’s because I’m a tourist, but there are so many wonderful shops, cafes, parks, museums, etc in the area.

In the surrounding area alone you have Harrods, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Royal Albert Hall, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, etc. SO much to do, it’s unbelievable.

I spent the morning in Kensington, doing some shopping and eating. I walked to Kensington from Battersea, and it was truly a lovely walk. Especially once you get into the Kensington area and you see all of the beautiful houses.

We first stopped by this little cafe I’ve read about in another blog. It did not disappoint.

It’s called the Elan Cafe. It’s completely geared towards instagram-able pictures. The entire place is covered in flowers.

But it’s more than just a pretty picture; the food was delicious too…(and also really nice to look at).

I mean…look at those desserts. They look scrumptious.

I actually had some halloumi and courgette fries dipped in some sort of chipotle mayo. So good.

After brunch we wandered over to Harrods to get some shopping done.

Sadly, this was the only picture I took of Harrods. If you’ve been there, you’d understand why: the store is huge and there is so much to see it visually overwhelms you and you can’t help but be distracted by trinkets and things. So..I forgot I was even carrying a camera.

If you’ve never been to Harrods, I’d recommend just popping in to take a look. Most of the stuff in there is fairly pricey, so unless you’re ready to spend hundreds of dollars, I’d say a sneak peak is good enough (:. But there is so much to buy in there. Everything ranging from chocolates to gourmet meats, bed sheets to tea sets, and even specialized stationary.

I love it.

After Harrods, we wandered into Hyde Park to watch the ducks and swans pass. I’m not going to post any pictures from Hyde Park because I do have another blog post about it. If you’d like to see those pictures, you can here.

About mid day, we made our way over to the Royal Albert Hall. Now, I’ve seen the outside of the Hall several times, but I have never been inside until now.

We were able to get inside for “free.” It wasn’t exactly free, because we did buy concert tickets. But the tickets were marginally cheaper than if you were to purchase tour tickets.

This concert exceeded all of my expectations. It’s what they call a Friendship Concert. I believe this is referencing to the ability for several senior groups and school groups to come and watch a show mid-day. But tickets were also available to the general audience. We got box seats for only £5!

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was performing a symphonic rock concert. Basically, they played a lot of famous rock songs with orchestral instruments. It was wonderful and so much fun!

After the concert, we ended up getting dinner at The Troubadour. This pub is famous for intimate concerts with huge stars like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Sammy Davis Jr.and Jimi Hendrix. It is also thought to have been the birthplace of the peace sign.

I had the traditional bangers and mash there (:

The remainder of the evening was creepily spent in a graveyard…again. But that’ll be in the next post (:

 

Mary Jane xx