Albertopolis And Beyond

From the Natural History Museum we marched on through that part of Kensington known as Albertopolis, the site of the Royal Albert Hall, the Prince Albert Monument, and other Albertian things. A stroll through some recent British history, then through Kensington Gardens to Hyde Park, ending on Oxford Street and the few blocks back to our apartment.

Rounding the bend to Royal Albert Hall

Thus

And thus, with tour buses for scale

The Albert Memorial: as good as prince consorts
get, I suppose; certainly contributed memorably
to his Queen's reign

Detail of the monument: Asia (from the four classically-
known continents

Apparently a favored site for pugilistic practice

Unforgettable scene

Not least of Albert's accomplishments was the
great British exposition of 1851, the centerpiece of
which was Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace, which 
was built here, in Hyde Park

So now we are on the Princess Diana Memorial
Walk

Going to the dogs

Nearing Oxford Street, one of many such stations being prepared
for the crowds expected for the Jubilee

Ring twice at least one nano-second before over-taking
pedestrians...

The Marble Arch, site of the ill-fated Mound of yesteryear

Oxford Street, bedecked, as everywhere else, with the Union Jack

Art Deco BBC Broadcast House, near our flat, where
Penelope and I starred on closed-circuit TV back
in 2013

Natural History Museum

We visited the Natural History Museum (actually: "The British Museum (Natural History)") in 2013, hoping to interest toddler Penelope with the dinosaurs and such. We did not stay long. We thought we'd give it another go on this visit, having toured most all the other major museums in London. We did mostly dinosaurs and minerals. It was another short visit, in part because of my aversion to mere bones and stones exhibits (I like a little history of science context also, please), and partly because of painful memories incurred of Geology 101, 102, and 103, courses I barely passed. But I digress. Actually, we were there as much for Alfred Waterhouse's neo-Romanesque and Victorian architecture as the exhibits. The building is often called the "Cathedral of Nature." 

Bones of a giant blue whale swooping down; this used to be
where Dippy the Diplodocus resided, now removed to other realms

Sculptural program: Darwin's monkeys?

Chuck himself, presiding; looks lonely, bored

Fearsome animatronic life-sized dinosaurs, worthy of Disney

Open a little wider, please

I was hoping for a little dinosaur whoopie, but it's a family museum

The architecture really is astounding, even considering
the great wealth available in England in Victorian times

Darwin's pigeons; apparently he enjoyed poisoning pigeons
in the park

Four or so large cases of important objects, with occasional
references to why they might have been important to the march
of science

Huxley, Darwin's attack dog; I can rarely think of him
without reference to Huxley College in Horsefeathers; my
favorite higher education movie; Groucho was president

Moving on to the mineral wing, because: diamonds,
which are a girl's best friend

Diamonds of color

2,000 carats of topaz

Mineral wing

We were on tour too and I was ready to move on

Major destination for school groups

 

In London, 2022

We had rented a studio in Fitzrovia, just to the left of Bloomsbury, our previous (2021) abode, across Tottenham Court Road. The studio reminded us of our camper, in square footage, but it had all the amenities. Only problem was it turned out to be on the 3rd floor (4th American) with no lift. Great cardiac and knee work-outs, especially after 20k step days. But, hey, we're in London! Again. We love the place, second only to Paris. We did a few new things, revisited a few old friends, idled, and generally just enjoyed being in a wonderful place. For eleven days. Since I blogged extensively of London in 2021, I'll try to focus the next few posts on the new things, condensing the old. I did many posts from London in 2021, starting here. 

British Out-Takes, 2022, Part The First

From our three weeks of homes, gardens, churches, etc. in May of 2022...not in any particular order...

In addition to its "mountain" topiaries, Powis is
famous for its precisely trimmed 12 feet tall yew
hedges all around; I had actually thought they were
laser-guided until corrected by a gardener; a team of
two men, with a cherry-picker (articulated lift),
two months, every year; look closely and you'll
see one sprig that got away: human error

Origin of Harry Potter

Vicki has become a devotee of the National Trust's "luxury hot
chocolate"

Architectural shaming: Flimwell Park

Office as well as residential

British for "leave only footprints"

Still processing...

I can never resist dress-up rooms

Exbury buys its garden hoses by the mile

So our cottage in the New Forest, near Exbury,
had a hot tub--a Lithuanian hot tub, it was explained--
which was heated by a wood fire; we had a fine soak,
preceded by my carefully tending the fire for a couple
hours

In the olden days, you could only get Kendal Mint Cake in the
Lake District; but now it's in outdoors stores everywhere; I love
the stuff, which is basically peppermint oil-infused sugar; famous
for fueling the 1953 Everest first ascent

Even in Wales, wild-camping is becoming less permissible

FYI, in case you're planning on golfing in Derbyshire

In Chipping Campden; and much of England

AR-15s are not a problem here

Sterling silver caps for your condiments

Seems like we ate some of this in southern Africa...
but not so nicely packaged

The gin craze continues

It's the Jubilee; we were tempted, even as the price
went down; but didn't; plays "God Save the Queen"
while you help yourself to the biscuits

Ever popular

Bringing in the sheep...

The English truly love their dogs

Soon to be an Olympic sport

Typical road situation