London: Day 3

We began our day at Hyde Park and made our way to Kensington Palace.  I have never been inside Kensignton Palace before, but I didn't imagine it would be quite like this......
Apparently, they decided to do something a little more modern to attract tourists.  Our take on it?  A little weird.  It was like stepping into Alice's Wonderland, only no Johnny Depp.  This section of the palace has been open since 1898, and this year, they decided to create a new exhibit titled "The Enchanted Palace."  I wish I had photos to show, but alas, they weren't allowed.  The concept:  each room is devoted to a different princess.  We were given a map and clues as to what to look for in each room.  There was a poem for each princess.  Plus a lot of "enchanted" decor that didn't make much sense to us...it was pretty trippy.  To me, the best part of visiting palaces and cathedrals/abbeys in Europe is seeing it as it has been for hundreds of years.  We just tried to look past all the weird stuff. 
The seven princesses were:
1. Mary
2. Caroline
3. Charolette
4. Victoria
5. Margarete
6. Dianna
7. Anne

"Look for us, we are all here, all seven of us."  Not creepy at all.....

Kensington Gardens

Our next stop was the mecca of all shopaholics:  Harrod's, a store so large, you need a map to navigate it.  No joke.  There are 6 levels total, each with different sections of merchandise.

  We spent a lot of time on the escalaters....almost too afraid to venture inside one of the rooms.

Especially when you see names like Dior, Prada, and Hermes...We found a few cool items.  One room was devoted to vintage movie posters.  For 700 pounds, you could have an autographed portrait of Ron or Hermione.  We picked up lunch at the massive food court on the ground level.  I was so hungry yet so overwhelmed by the amount of food in that room.  I must have wandered around for 15 minutes before I decided to go with a fresh broccoli and mozzarella salad, a spring roll, and a sample of something else....that I can not remember the name of.  Sorry, poor documenting on my part.

We then headed to Picadilly Circus with hopes of catching Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre....but that didn't happen.  Disappointed, we decided to head to Buckingham Palace.

We got to see the arrival of some very important visitor.  No idea who he was.  We were hoping to see Will and Kate : (

The Wellington Arch

We also chanced upon the "Loo of the Year."

I did a lousy job of taking pictures on our 3rd day in London.  Several of these Katherine took.  I just knew I had an extra pair of batteries in my "Mary Poppins Purse."  I can usually find anything I need in there.  But alas, no batteries.  So no pictures.

We returned to Hyde Park and found the Peter Pan Statue.  This was no easy task.  It was like a scavenger hunt.....and Hyde Park is huge!

We did get to see a show after all.  We went to Leichester Square and purchased 1/2-priced tickets.  We didn't have many choices, so we settled on Chicago.  The choreography was amazing!  The actress playing Velma Kelly and the actor playing Amos were our favorites; however, Christie Brinkley has apparently decided to step into Broadway, and we did not like watching her as Roxie Hart.  I'm not exactly how she got the part.....

We had dinner at Sartori, probably the most authentic Italian food I've ever had.  We ordered the margarita pizza...and wow....we Americans have really ruined pizza!  This pizza was so simple, but tasted better than any pizza I've ever eaten.  The staff were also the friendliest people we conversed with in London.  And get this:  wishes he had a southern American accent.....???  We found this extremely funny.

This brings an end to the London portion of our trip.  We're off to Paris next!