Our Day in the Kensington Area of London
Jeremy and I purchased a travel guide of London and have decided that we need to take an area of it each weekend we are in town and divide and conquer it. During this weekend we decided it would be the Kensington area.
We took the tube (London subway) to Hyde Park. We walked around this area and went into the Victoria and Albert Museum. It has one of the world's largest collections of art and design. It's huge with a 7-mile layout spread over 6 floors! Since Sophie was with us and in her stroller (not all places are handicapped accessible here) it was a bit difficult to get to all floors, so we just covered the first floor. There is no admission charge, so it is a great museum to check out for 5 minutes or 5 hours at no guilt. While beautiful and in an interesting building, it was overwhelming and we definately need to go back again.
Next we hit an African drumming exhibition at the Natural History Museum next door. Sophie even got a chance to try bang on the steel drum, which she loved. We then explored the bird and monkey displays. Again, too much to cover in one trip and no cost to view most exhibitions here. Very cool for kids!
We walked by the most famous department store in London but decided against going in. We will leave that for when we have guests who want to check it out :).
Jeremy also checked out the Brompton Oratory, while Sophie and I waited outside so as to not disturb those who were worshipping.
We enjoyed the Albert Memorial and would love to take others to see this! It is a grand memorial to Queen Victoria's late husband. I was so sad that I forgot my camera on this day, so I will have to go back to take pictures of this! This statue has a multi-coloured marble canopy, mosiacs, enamels, wrought iron and nearly 200 sculpted figures. It is magnificent and backs up to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens (which we didn't make it to).
During this day we also walked by other buildings of notable interest the Royal College of Music and the Royal Albert Hall.
London Bridges
It took us almost four weeks to settle in the flat before we were able to venture out of the community into the city. For our first outing we decided to go to the Borough Market near the London Bridge. This is considered London's premier fine food market. There is organic meat and produce (Jer bought some pepperoni sticks that he loved!), handmade cheeses (we sampled several--excellent! the blocks are as big as a table, very cool!), breads, sweets (aka desserts), chocolates (we purchased some of this as well), and coffees/teas. We also enjoyed lunch here. It is very interesting. I have not seen anything like it before and I love that they offer samples of most things, try before you buy, a great idea!
After the Market we went over the London Bridge, which was actually anti-climatic and just a normal bridge. It is the Tower Bridge that is so unique and memorable, which we also walked over. This bridge is gorgeous and has great views of the river. This bridge can be raised--when raised it is 135 feet high and 200 feet wide. I am not sure how this compares to the lift bridge in Duluth or in Stillwater. . . This bridge was completed in 1894 and its Victorian engineering helped it become a symbol of London quickly. This is something to see!
During this day trip we also toured/climbed the Monument. This column was designed by Christopher Wren to commenorate the Great Fire of London which devastated the original walled city in Sept. 1666. It is the tallest isolated stone column in the world. It is 205 ft. high and has 311 steps to the top. You actually get a certificate of completion for making it up and down. The views are spectacular! Sophie saw a bus from the top and pointed to it and said "car" which did look like a car from that high up! She is definately not scared of heights! This is a great workout and well worth it if you can handle the heights to see the views of the London Bridge, Tower Bridge and the river and city!
All in all this first day of sight seeing in the city was amazing and making us feel like all our hard work to get here and to get settled is now allowing us to play a little....
Sophie's Hospital Visit
After only being in London for two weeks Sophie got sick with croup. In order to see a doctor at a clinic here you have to be "registered". Well, I hadn't gotten this done yet, so in order for Sophie to be seen (as my doctor back home recommended, yes I had to call) by a doctor we had to take her to the emergency room (known as the A & E, Accident and Emergency room here). I knew it was close to our flat, but didn't know how close (5 minutes walk--2-3 minutes if we had to run!).
It was a slightly different process than in the states, she was assessed first by a "sister" or nurse. She determined that Sophie did need to be seen by a doctor so we were escorted to the children's wing. Amazingly we didn't have to wait to long to be seen (and the waiting room had great toys and books) and Jeremy was able to meet us in the children's wing. Sophie was assessed and determined to have croup. They gave her an oral steroid to help open up her throat (since she had lost her voice and to decrease the coughing) and it kicked in within 5 minutes. It was amazing and gave her some energy to run around and bounce off the walls! After being under observation for a few hours, Sophie was able to be released and we headed home. We were given another dose of the steroid to use in the morning if needed because as the doctor put it "we looked like reasonable people" (good thing!). After about 1 1/2 weeks Sophie was back to herself 100%, it just took a little time and lots of time at the flat.
The hospital visit did not cost us anything either since we are resident's of the UK. Health care is free to all resident's. A very interesting system. And, Jeremy, Sophia and I all are now currently "registered" with a GP clinic so we can see a doctor during their hours anytime it is needed.
