Since we hadn’t officially had any English Tea yet during our stay, we walked to the tea room in Kensington Gardens called The Orangery for breakfast. It was a striking old building next to Kensington Palace that has served the Queen dating back to the early 1700′s (Queen Victoria, that is). We each got our own pot of tea and a breakfast item. Jessie and I both tried the scones with clotted cream and Roger had the porridge with sultanas (that is oatmeal with raisins to you and me). We also cheated and tried the yummy treat of shortbread with caramel and chocolate on it. OMG-super yum! Too sweet though, we couldn’t finish it.
Gardens
The Orangery
After tea, we walked through the park to the Victoria and Albert museum and the Natural History Museum, which happened to be down the street from our hotel. The V&A, as it is known in London, is a collection of items from Queen Victoria’s reign and some current things to see. We really enjoyed the descriptions of fashion from the 1600′s to current and future fashions as well as the jewelry collections. Talk about some expensive jewelry. All I can say is I want a tiara! Or a huge emerald and diamond necklace and earrings!
V&A Museum
Next we walked across the street to the Natural History Museum. It is filled with dinosaurs and other ancient animals, insects, minerals, you name it. We really loved seeing all the dinosaur bones and the skeleton of the humongous Blue Whale. This museum also has some impressive gems in ‘the vault’. The building architecture itself is a marvel to visualize. We liked the museum, but it is really targets a family with younger children. There are a lot of interactive design features that are great if traveling with your children, but since my younger 2 were at home, we didn’t spend as much time going through everything.
There are many museums to see in London. Most have free admission, but ask for donations throughout the museums. If you can, donate! These really are wonderful treasures to be able to see.
grand entry
Outside the museum
After the museum, we rested our weary feet for a bit and got dressed and spiffed up to go to see Wicked, the musical. We minded the gap and hopped the tube to Victoria Station. We ate at an Italian restaurant called Prezzo and walked to the Victoria Apollo Theatre to see the show. It is an older theatre, but grand to say the least. Most everything is decorated with a greenish hue, fitting with the theme of the play. The play was wonderful. It was a very creative twist on the Wizard of Oz. We really had a great time. We bought souveniers at the close of the show, because we haven’t done enough shopping, and went back home for the night.
The cost of the show varies, but we got the 4 0 lb tickets. There are more expensive and less expesive, but we had really good seats. You can also consume beverages of the alcoholic variety in the theatre.
Victoria Station
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Wicked
