Mini-Mini-Break II: South Kensington

Well, the day has come for me to head off into London for some serious touring. I adhered to one rule and one rule only: do not EVER wear running shoes. But I so totally wore a hoodie. SO cheesy. Oh well, it was damp but I was warm.

Oh, as a side note, I'm going to do a lot of posts since I have over 400 pictures to get through. I'll do this by area, not by day as I usually do. Thanks.

Alright, starting out, I checked into the Astor Hyde Park hostel. It was on Queen's Gate, right at, well, Queen's Gate at Hyde Park. Absolutely GREAT location for what I wanted to do. I'll get to the drawbacks later when I'm feeling less elated, but for now, know that the place was great. They even have a super interactive map (here, if you are interested, though you do have to endure the long introduction) that really helped.

The plan for the next 48 hours? See South Kensington. DO South Kensington. I was pumped. Off I headed with this map in mind (thank you Map My Run...I hope you folks can see it).

Here was the statue at the head of Queen's Gate right at Kensington Gardens (at the west side of Hyde Park):



...and the gates as I walked into the Royal gardens. So cool, right? This is my real life.



I think what struck me most were the wide open spaces everywhere. It was stunning. Benches galore!



Prince Albert Hall struck out in the distance, just a bit further east along Kensington Street.



I was struck (again! Common theme today) by the seemingly Asian theme of the Prince Albert Memorial. You?

First stop: the Serpentine Gallery. Unfortunately, it was closed while they installed the next exhibition, but there were some interesting sculptures in the gardens for our perusal...



Here is the Princess Diana Memorial walkway. It was quite a long walk, actually, and ended at the memorial fountain. I wondered why it was HERE, but that would become clear very soon.



Love.



Ah ha! Here is one such sculpture!



And one happy little duck. The Round Pond is misty behind me. Note how green the grass is. How beautiful, non?





At last, reasons are revealed...Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana LIVED (!) is in Kensington Gardens. What did I know? And what do you know...the castle is open!



It was strange to be here. I remember so vividly when Diana passed away and the multitude of flowers that literally littered this site for SO long after. It was quite moving to be right there. Again, this is my real life. Every single thing, good, bad, or otherwise, that has happened to me, that has happened because of me, has led me right here. Just like I did in Thailand, I was filled with gratitude for all of it. How else would all this be possible?







Dian-motional, I left Kensington Gardens, headed toward the main event of the day. But first, Kensington Square in all its glory...

...more in a sec!