2023 Scotland – 11

A Palace, Fashion, A Park and a Museum

(Above – our hotel , the Grand Royale)

Today was our last full day on our trip. It’s been amazing, and hard to fit into words. We’ve seen incredible things, met wonderful people, and broadened our minds. Travel is a wonderful thing.

Our hotel is great except for one thing – it has the worst internet I’ve encountered. Apparently it doesn’t like to talk to Apple products. So I’m gerry-rigging my phone to WordPress, then trying to get it onto my Surface. Somehow we all have to be tech savvey now, and I’m not all that great at it!

Other than that our hotel is wonderful. It’s full of old world ambiance, and in a wonderful area for what we wanted to do. Originally my plan had been to use this day and a half to explore the textile collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum. We ended up not having as much time as we would have liked, and we are both exhausted.

We walked from the hotel to Hyde Park (about 1/2 of a block), and meanered through the park to Kensington Palace where we had tickets at 11am. The Park is beautiful. Parts of it have been left for the wild grasses and flowers, just as we saw at the Tower and in Scotland. It’s a wonderful way to keep the park. Trees had fallen and been left to use for benches. It’s a terrific mix of wild and manicured.

The palace was busy. The new exhibit ‘Crown to Couture’ has been open only 2 weeks, and it’s been sold out daily. We had purchased tickets online, so we were fine. The entry time of 11am was welcome, as we didn’t have to hurry. Our tickets included the exhibit ‘Victoria’s Childhood’ and ‘The Jewel Room’. These were excellent as well. We spent over 3 hours going through the tours. They were crowded, and it felt a little like being at Versailles and dealing with the crowds of people.

The exhibths included both old and modern clothing, and were beautifully presented. A silver tissue dress that had been carefully preserved and was on display, as were regency gowns and men’s garments. Modern dress was pressent as well – from Blake Lively’s copper architecture inspired dress to Lizzo’s gorgeous gold and black robes. I’ll probably do a seperate post on the clothes and the embroidery, as there is a lot to talk about.

While we were seeing the exhibit, we moved through the rooms of the palace. My favorite was the cupola room. There is a mamoth clock, which also played music. But the ceiling was a masterful piece of artwork. It looks like a dome, but it is an optical illusion. The first three rows of design are on a diagnol, but the remaining is a flat ceiling. I still can’t see it!

From Kensington Palace, we worked our way through a now very crowded Hyde Park towards the museums. The day was lovely and warm, and it looks like a lot of people decided it was not time to venture outdoors. I heard lots of different languages and accents, and there were lots of dogs running around off leash. London seems to be a pretty dog friendly place.

As we worked our way through the gardens, we saw something rise above the tree line, all bright glittering gold. This was the Albert Memorial. I took a ton of pictures, but was never able to get the right light. My apolgies. It is a truly magnificant piece of artwork. Across the street was the Albert Hall.

Julie went on ahead to the museums after that, as I was tiring, and wanted to just wander my way slowly. My feet and knees were tired and my ankle was sore. I was able to get the lay of the land of the museum, and will plan my next visit a little more carefully. Julie caught a couple of exhibits and said they were excellent.

We had crepes for dinner and watched the crowds. The line for the gelato shop never seemed to decrease! Finally, we headed back to the hotel to try and shoehorn everything into our suitcases.

(Inside the Victoria & Albert Museum)

But before I end tonights blog, I wanted to touch on buildings. I did find out why some of these beautiful old buildings have modern buildings attached. When were in Edinburgh, a cab driver told us that quite a lot of the buildings were ‘listed’ with whatever government organization preserves historical buildings. A whole building could be listed, or just a piece – like a molding on a ceiling in a room. Whatever was listed, you couldn’t change. And a whole lot of Edinburgh was listed. They are currently remodeling and expanding the hospital, and the old parts had to remain. In order expand the building, they had to build onto the listed parts. That actually explained a lot. But I will say that Edinburgh has done a better job of it than London has.

I liked London much better than the first time I saw it 10 years ago. I think I’ve changed, not the city. I had never been to Europe, and we began that first trip in Paris, which I loved. I think I see the city through a more educated lense now. Times change and people do as well. Thanks heavens. How boring would it be to never learn and grow?