The wall to wall blue sky is gone… and I don’t miss it! Don’t get me wrong, it was great and I am super thankful I had it for this long considering its London after all, but the heat that comes with it is just too much for me. Today was a mixed bag from sunshine to menacing black clouds; lucky for us we never got rained on. We had one brief moment where we needed to put our hoods up to cross a courtyard and that was it… less than a minute!
Today we went to Hampton Court. It was very nice and I enjoyed it more than the last time I visited it… possibly because that time the temps were just barely above freezing and I was getting frost bite touring the gardens! This time the weather was perfect and the gardens were in bloom which made everything better.
The Castle itself is really impressive, the kitchens were a treat to see...
the Great Vine (251 years old and going strong) is amazing...
… but the rest of the interior rooms were skippable - or let’s say to be fair: Skimmable. I just thought it was more and more and more of the same like aaaaaaaallll other royal palaces and castles - but I will concede that you never know when you will come across something beautiful that moves you so I suppose zipping though the displays is not all bad.
We finished our explorations around 12:30, had a disappointing lunch nearby, and were back in London by around 2:30. The food was ok, but the service was almost non-existant and the entire place was dingy and needed a tidy-up...
We didn’t do any more sightseeing in the afternoon, my mom picked up a Christmas tree ornament that she wanted and then we went for a drink at a swanky bar where I had the most ridiculous cocktail of all time!!
After our pitstop, we walked through Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens and then had fancy supper at a French Brasserie: Ivy Kensington Brasserie. The Ivy is a chain and I have been to the Kensington location for brunch in 2016 and fell in love so I was happy my mom was willing to go for supper.
My meal was great, it was a crazy yet delicious mix of flavours. For example, my main was crab salad on avocado, on a bed of watermelon, served with Bloody Mary sauce and covered with edible flowers. It was very original! I wish I was a local so I could go back and explore more items on the menu. I was practically leering at the dishes of our neighbours on either side; every plate was a work of art.
They even had Sauternes for dessert.... and nowhere near as insanely priced as up at the Sky Garden!
Last day tomorrow… I can’t believe its already almost done.
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