kensington palace

I had a lovely day sightseeing at Kensington Palace. The Palace grounds have been made into a park and I saw some coloured leaves there today! I have been craving them. They seem to be very uncommon here in London. One day the leaves are green on the trees and the next day they are brown and lying on the ground. It makes me really sad and I feel homesick for the colourful leaves of Nova Scotia.


Kensington Palace was bought by King William and Queen Mary to be away from the centre of London. They had Christopher Wren fix it up into a palace and today half of it is open to the public (the other half is still used for residences for members of the extended Royal family.


I walked through William's and Mary's suites of rooms, a lot of which was original and other parts very well restored. Victoria lived there as a Princess and her rooms very very interesting (and smaller). This sculpture of Queen Victoria is outside the Palace and was made my her daughter, Princess Louise.


I went into the Orangery restaurant for lunch--a conscious decision to enjoy a more luxurious meal than usual for me when I'm out on my own. I have never eaten at a table for one at a restaurant, but I had a really enjoyable time, helped by the delicious food and the calm surroundings.


Each table had a little orange plant. The whole restaurant was light and white; one can imagine rows of citrus trees growing here.


In order to keep spending down (a bit), I ordered two starters and a cup of tea. One was a delicious salad that I can definitely imagine making myself.

Items in my lunchtime salad:
rocket
curly endive (also called frisee)
goats cheese
plum poached with lots of cloves, skin on
walnuts
honey dressing
Served with not too sweet raisin bread

I had courgette and sweetcorn soup as well served with "artisan bread", one slice of which had garlic pieces baked into it. Yum, yum. I ordered tulsi mint tea to drink, which was a proper English pot of loose tea served with a cup and a strainer. I ate my lunch very slowly, enjoying each mouthful and the view out to the manicured gardens. I also was reading my book (the book club selection for November, The End of Mr Y).

I walked through the park and then nipped over to the V&A for an hour to complete a really relaxing day of culture and history in London.