Highlights of my London trip - P1

Feel free to click on any picture for a clearer view

London's Taxis

My favorite London taxis. Don't think you'll find them anywhere else on earth.

Taken at Trafalgar Square

Taken from the lobby of our hotel. See the Starbucks & Crussh outlet in the background across the road? That's where we usually take our breakfast, if it's not at Wholefoods.

Our Hotel

Royal Garden Hotel on Kensington High Street

View from our room window on a rainy evening

This is the right side of the hotel (assuming I am standing in front of the hotel with my back towards it). This side is where you will find St Mary Abby's, Wholefoods Market (it's a supermarket), Zara, Marks & Spencer, H&M, Gaps, Uniqlo, antique shops, Kensington Highstreet tube station, high end boutiques some of which are Kate Middleton's favorite outlets (according to a "reliable source" of mine by the name of Christine Ong Li Fong - BBC news reporter from KL, bleck!), etc.. all within 5-8 minutes walking distance.

 Kensington Garden on the immediate left of our hotel, where Kensington Palace is located (the late Princess Diana's residence & future residence of Prince William and Kate Middleton) and Hyde Park is adjacent to it.

Royal Garden Hotel on the left (grey building) and Kensington Palace on the right (brown building). *wink, wink*, get it? get it?

Same as above, except that in here, the pointy building in the center that looks like a pencil tip, that is St Mary Abby's.

St Mary Abby's

Behind the church there is a little beautiful garden! Quiet & peaceful.

 And we love the flowers that were in full bloom around it..!!

 Picture taken from the front, at the main road

We were most fortunate to encounter 2-3 days of bright sunshine and mild temperature, out of the 9 days we were there. For those remaining days, it was usually bright sunshine in the morning (though it's still freezing cold), by 11 am, the cloud will start to gather, but the strong wind will blow it away before the next group of cloud gathers again. So you can have cloudy and grey afternoon one minute and bright sunshine the next minute. 



Whole Foods Market

This is Whole Foods Market

See the grey building on the left? That's our hotel! And once you step into Whole Foods, oh my gawd..!!!!!! You will go crazy with the variety of food selections they have, whether it is for eat-in or for their groceries. Their food variety covers cheeses, hand-made chocolates, meat & fish, etc. I believe ST must have taken hundreds of pictures of all the food he saw in there. We drop by this place everyday, without fail. 

The reason why this outlet plays such a crucial and important role in our stay here is because, it doesn't matter where we went everyday, we must stop by Whole Foods to touch base, for the great view (see below pic), the free WiFi, the soup (ST's favorite) and bread (my favorite), the glorious FOOD, and whatever.

This is how it looks like upstairs where customers dine. And we always sit at the same place (around this section). And there is also a food court on the other side.

The hot soup that ST begs to have everyday (6-8 different types) while I beg for coffee every afternoon.. :-D

 Needless to say, the bread that drives me crazee...!!

Random Ramble

It is supposed to be spring in London. Hence the sun is up, sunny and BRIGHT by 5 am (and I mean blinding bright if you do not have a sun glass on) and sets only around 8.30 - 9 pm. So we have lots of opportunity to explore London the whole day, get back to our strategically located hotel around 5 pm to take a short nap (by then we will be so dead tired..!!), and still get to go out to continue walking in broad day light at around 7.30 pm.. :-D

Due to the cold weather, everyday I was drinking 2 cups of steaming hot tea (1 cup of English Breakfast tea in the morning immediately after we wake up, to keep warm & 1 cup of Earl Gray tea in the evening after our nap) and a cup of hot chocolate as a treat at night just before bed, all complimentary from Royal Garden Hotel. Thanks to London, I have now acquired the passion for tea drinking.. :)))

That's it for today, folks! Stay tuned for my next postings on The Tower of London (a historic castle), parliament building and Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster area and Royal Albert Hall! 

Cheerios!


--moon

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