The weather for this trip so far has been very good, but today was going to be a bit wetter. Realizing that, we decided to make our way around Notting Hill and the Kensington areas, which isn't too far from where we're staying in South Kensington.
After the normal breakfast, we take the tube up to Notting Hill. It's nice having a tube station near the hotel, but it gets a lot of traffic from people heading to the museums nearby, which, is something we haven't seem to have done yet.
Getting off at Notting Hill, we start to wander the streets. Someone is actually crazy enough to ask me for directions, and oddly, I know the answer. There's hope yet.
A note about streets in London, they ain't straight. NY has got to be one of the easiest cities in the world to navigate as it is generally a grid, and it is surrounded by water. So, even if you get lost, once you walk a few blocks in either direction, you'll have a good idea of where the heck you are.
Walking around Notting Hill, is nice, even though it is pouring rain. (This is the point where I keep thanking myself for having the odd foresight to remember to bring my rain coat). There are a bunch of little shops here and we jump in and out. I pick up a few books, and I find the most amazing thing.
A hat that actually fits my fat head:
Yes, I know it's not the most magical looking hat, but, as I pointed it out, it actually fits my head.
You see, I got me a big head, usually it's well hidden with hair (thank god, knock on wood and all that). But underneath all that, I got me a fat head. When you own one of these, you generally don't find hats that fit it. For example, this would make hat #2 that I own that fits, the other being New Era's 3930 baseball caps. So, finding one that fits is a significant milestone.
On the plus side, the hat has so many colors in it that it will match every single piece of clothing I own.
Anyway, with hat purchased, and my head now dry, (and might I add, incredibly toasty as the hat is made of wool), we continued to walk around.
Next, we made our way to Kensington Palace (http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/) and saw this grand place.
Proof that it is grand is that it has a garden that looks like this:
From there, we made our way down to High Street (where, apparently, one can find the dregs of socitey like Paris Hilton shopping recently) and had lunch at Wagamamma. (Hey, if I could eat at Wagamama every day, I would).
In Kensington, we find the rooftop garden (http://www.roofgardens.virgin.com/en/the_roof_gardens/about_us), which is literally what it says it is and is not a commonly known attraction. Here's why it is so cool:
It's a nice little hidden gem.
From there, we continued down High Street and wandered through the stores. As the rain had stopped, it was a nice day to do this.
For a change of pace, we took the bus back to the apartments. This was my wife's first ride on a double decker bus, so of course we rode on the top.
After dropping our stuff off we had dinner at Dim t (http://www.dimt.co.uk/) which was close by and as I look at the web site (which is quite nice), I notice they seem to have a cool location by Tower Bridge.
Tomorrow, we're having high tea in London and we're being joined here by our friend Bernd who's flying over from Poland for a few days.
