Kensington

Oh, hi again - back with a few more London pictures!

After Matt finished work on Thursday night, we had three whole days to spend together in Europe! We left our hotel near Waterloo Station and traveled up to Kensington.

Kensington was really lovely. Rows and rows of pristine white rowhouses, with iron balconies and ornate carvings. We got a room at a boutique hotel in one of these neighborhoods. It was a neat experience, though it was a bit of a surprise to learn we had a 5th floor room and there was no elevator!

Hotel room in Kensington.

We decided to start the day off with touring Kensington Palace.

Kensington Palace was really beautiful. I loved the park setting, and how modest the palace seemed. It wasn't what I was expecting, but in a good way. I don't know a lot about the histories of the royal families, but what I have learned about Queen Victoria has always fascinated me so I was excited to learn more about her in the place where she spent so much of her life.

But I think I was even more excited about our next stop...

The Orangery at Kensington Palace

We enjoyed a proper, English, afternoon tea at The Orangery. It was such a beautiful building, and the food was so fun. (And of course, the tea was wonderful too!)

^ Royal Albert Hall ^

^ Watching the birds in Kensington gardens. ^

^ The magnificent Albert Memorial. ^

We also made time to go check out the Victoria and Albert museum, though their collection is just mind-bogglingly massive and after almost three hours, we felt like we had barely scratched the surface.

^ The enormous, "Ardabil Rug" at the V&A. ^

Matt at breakfast, at our Kensington hotel.

We were exhausted after all our walking, and went back to our hotel fairly early in the evening to get some sleep before the next big adventure ahead of us...

Paris!

St. Pancras Station, waiting for our Eurostar train to France!