House of Parliament:
Big Ben in the morning!
I wish SF would put up this sign!
Borough Market is supposed to a 'happening' market on Friday, Sat and Sunday. Since it was Friday morning, we decided to go there first, but when we arrived, the vendors were just setting up! Talk about a late market! But all the prices we saw were super-expensive anyway ;(
We trotted all the way across London to Shakespeare’s Globe, which Jen thought we could enter for free.
Haha!!! It actually costs 10 pounds, but since she didn’t pay for anything the last time she was in London, she thought it was free. Apparently she went into not only Shakespeare’s Globe, but Tower of London, Wimbledon, Kensington Palace, etc the last time she went, so were those “free” also? =P
Anyway we took some shots outside of the Globe and were about to head over to the Tower of London…when we realized that we forgot our tickets at the hotel!!! Luckily Tower of London tickets are valid for 7 days from the chosen date on the ticket, so we didn’t have to go all the way back to the hotel and back to the Tower, but now we had to switch around our plans… except that we had spent 1 ½ hours walking all the way over there! Teehee he he… ;(
We decided to go to the Victoria and Albert museum. On the way we found a Sainsbury’s where we got flapjacks:
They’re sort of like a thick chewy granola bar, but with honey flavors and milk chocolate on the outside. Yum! Angel vowed to make this when she got back home to CA.
By the time we arrived at the V&A, there was a big fat “sold out” sign in front of the museum! The museum admission itself is free (as are many English museums), but the Grace Kelly exhibit costs 6 pounds to go into… and the ONE thing we wanted to see was sold out! We ended up having to book advance tickets for tomorrow, but we still walked around and saw many different exhibits in the museum. We saw fashion exhibits, with clothing and shoes from the 1600s to present day. There was a jewelry exhibit, showcasing jewelry from around the world. Austrians used a type of choker to cover up the goiters growing on their necks from iodine deficiency! *Shudder* Italian women wore many hairpins in their hair to show stature and wealth… one hairpin set looked like a peacock she had so many pins! Tiaras and crowns from Dukes and Ladies were also showcased.
The dress Princess Diana wore on her official state visit to Hong Kong in 1989 was also on display:
Catherine Walker designed the dress and she said that, "I chose pearls because they seemed so appropriate for a visit to the Orient."
A dress Grace Kelly wore:
...and drumroll please... Worth! I was SO excited to see one of his gowns displayed! Charles Frederick Worth was a Paris-based designer in the 1800s who is credited to really have started the whole fashion industry as we know it today. His gowns were status symbols and high society females flocked from all over the world to buy his creations. Ironic, isn't it, that an Englishman started the fashion industry? ^.^ I had heard so much about him, but I've never seen a dress of his until today. He made this dress for the daughter of the man who created Singer sewing machines, Isaac Singer:
It's incredible, the level of detailing that goes into every aspect of that dress. Look, for example, at the sleeves and how not only is there delicate ruffling, but two different fabrics are intertwined and the lacework even ruffles to an exact degree! And the pearl work? *sigh*!
The hem of the dress:
We saw the Bronze Age sculpture set by Rodin in another gallery:
People criticized this piece when Rodin first publicly showcased them as being cast from real life. Rodin was so offended he refused to show that piece again publicly. Later years, he made sculptures larger than life so to prevent claims that they were cast from real life.
The sculptures gallery in V&A:
We walked to Kensington Palace, Princess Diana’s former residence.
The garden at Kensington:
The orangerie at Kensington, which is now a cafe (Daddy said he and I ate there when we went together 10 years ago... but I don't remember! >__<):
I’ve always wanted to see Hyde Park, London’s equivalent of NYC’s Central Park. I was a little shocked, as my vision of what Hyde Park would look like differs vastly from reality. I had almost a Tuileries Garden version in my mind, but on a larger & grander scale. Hyde Park in reality is more like a lot of footpaths with grass, and trees lining the borders of the park but not in the middle (aka no shade!). Many people were out sunbathing, playing soccer, etc… very citizen-oriented park. The Peter Pan statue in the park:
Angel’s favorite, of course! (She’s singing Peter Pan as I write right now… “The second star to the right…”)
The Marble Arch is at one corner of Hyde Park. It was designed by John Nash in the early 1800s, originally built as the gateway to Buckingham Palace. For some reason, they decided to up and move the whole arch, to its present location... in the middle of a busy intersection! Go figure! There is a tube station near it, called the Marble Arch station. Why were we there? Good you asked...
Marks and Spencer is a department store similar to Target, although we thought it would be a high-priced Macy’s-type store. Its flagship store is located near Marble Arch. The food hall is AAAAAAMAZING! They have deals on virtually everything (so we’re starting to think the English just tack on those bright red signs on everything to get people to buy buy buy!) and they have a lot of prepared foods under their own label that look yummy. One of their deals is 3 for 5 pound deli items… so we bought prawn cocktail, prawn & Orkney crab cocktail, and mini pork pies.
Prawn cocktail salad:
The prawn and Orkney crab cocktail is delicious! Whole prawns with crabmeat already sounds delicious but the Orkney crab has its own unique taste that enhances the flavor so much more.
The mini pork pies were flaky and the pork jelly broth inside is very rich. I kept complaining that too bad every time we eat these pies, they are cold, but it seems when the pies are cold, the flavor is a lot stronger because the jelly hasn’t melted (that, and the meat tastes a lot fattier ~__^).
We popped by Selfridge’s department store to check out their foodhall. Everything is super expensive… but they did sell Pierre Herme macarons! Angel was soooo tempted… you could see the wheels in her mind spinning, debating if she should buy it or not. They sell it for 1.85 pounds each versus 1.95 euros in France (which would be more expensive, if you’re not doing the math).
We also went to Harvey Nichol’s foodhall to see their selection.
Harrod’s was nearing closing time by the time we got to their foodhall. That was cool, cuz they do ½ price off certain items at the end of the day! They sold the savory pies we like so much for ½ price, but a lot of them were being sold out at a rapid pace so there weren’t any left of the ones we wanted to buy.
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