Wednesday, April 26th, 2023 London, UK
This morning we rode the number 23 bus from Paddington to Knightsbridge, neither Sandra or I had ever ridden the London Bus before; I used Google Maps to figure out which bus to take and when it would arrive, the driver explained to us that we each had to use a different credit card to pay the fare – Noah rode for free.
We’ve been to Harrods department store in Knightsbridge many times over the years and we rarely buy anything with one notable exception; after we lost our house in the California wildfire of 2017, we replaced a large portion of our Christmas tree ornaments in the Harrods Christmas department – it helped a little way to heal our mental health. Somehow, we always manage to wander through the fantastic food hall which is stocked with nothing but the very best; from meats to breads to produce – the quality is exceptional and so are the prices, if we lived in London and did our grocery shopping here, we be broke pretty quick. The famous Egyptian escalators have been toned down a bit since the previous Egyptian owner sold the place to the Qatar sovereign wealth fund; gone is the Princess Diana showcase that contained items from the night she died (she was engaged to the son of the owner of Harrods at the time).
Emerging from Harrods we came across a rather unusual site; in order to combat the apparent excess of pigeons in the neighborhood a bird control officer has been hired and he uses a large hawk to bring down the pests – amazing.
Directly across the street from Harrods is a great restaurant called Café Concerto and we bopped in for a late morning top up; the coffee and pastries were very good. A short walk down Brompton Road and we were in the South Kensington Museum area, this is a great place to visit with 3 world class museums right next to each other. Laura and Sandra visited the Victoria and Albert Museum, while Noah and I visited the Natural History Museum – sadly we did not have time to visit the Science Museum on this trip.
At the Natural History Museum we mainly focused on the new dinosaur exhibit, and it was very well arranged; the highlight was the fully robotic, life-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex. It really was a whistle stop visit, if you want to have a good look around – plan a whole day. I should point out that entry to all of these museums is free!
Just north of the museum area is Hyde Park and Kensington Palace, I had pre-booked timed tickets for a visit to the palace and so we made our way over to join the line for our assigned time. Kensington Palace has been an official royal residence since the 17th century, initially as the home of the monarch but then over the years used by many of the members of the family; Queen Victoria was born there, Queen Anne died there, Charles and Diana lived there. The state rooms are open to the public, Sandra and I have visited a few times over the years – but today there was a special exhibit called “Crown to Couture”, oh joy. The exhibit placed “couture” gowns in all of the state rooms in front of the resident artwork, it was a strange mix. Noah and I accelerated through the rooms and headed for the gift shop leaving Sandra and Laura to enjoy themselves.
Going to the top of the tallest building in the UK is a thrill and I had booked timed ticket for the Shard this afternoon. It’s quite a distance from Kensington Palace to the Shard and time was pressing so we decided to take a taxi. After about 10 minutes we were finally able to flag down a taxi only to have the driver refuse the fare, with some lame excuse about a protest in the area of the Shard. I quickly ordered up an Uber and it arrived in about 3 minutes; the driver had no issues with taking us across the city to the Shard – in fact he went out of his way (literally) to take many detours to avoid the congested traffic and get us to the Shard on time. No signs of a protest anywhere.
Opened in 2012, the Shard is a 72-storey skyscraper that stands at little over 1000ft tall. The observation deck is located between the 68th and 72nd floors with an indoor gallery on the 69th floor and a partially outdoor gallery on the 72nd floor. It takes two elevators to get to the top, with a change on the 33rd floor. It can be fun to visit toilets featuring panoramic windows with views over the River Thames and the City of London, with optional electric blinds. The views from the top were brilliant, it was a nice clear day, and we could see for miles. A fully stocked cocktail bar provided us with refreshments and snacks, and with a bit of luck a table opened up and we got to sit for a bit.
Buckingham Palace is the place that almost every first-time visitor to London wants to see; tours are available but unfortunately not at this time of the year (Sandra and I did it last time we were in London and highly recommend it). It was getting late in the day but decided it was still worth a look, so we took the tube from London Bridge to St. James’ – and then a short walk to Buckingham Palace. Again we could see lots of preparation going on for the coronation in 10 days’ time, but the crowds were quite small, and we got to gawk through the railings at the front of the palace and saw the famous guards standing to attention.
One final stop for the day – the Lego store in Leicester Square, a short tube ride away. I remember playing with Lego when I was a kid, but it’s come a long way since then; the store in Leicester Square was on two levels and seemed to have as many adults shopping there as kids.
Tonight we went out for traditional British fish and chips, I tried to find a good spot near the hotel, but it was really quite awful, what a disappointment – especially when I know there are so many great places for fish and chips in the UK. Oh well, we have a few weeks to do better and I’m sure we will.
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