Hyde Park

I was recently watching "The Crown" for the umpteenth time (ask my husband. It's true. I'm addicted.) when I realized, I had forgotten to do a post on our last trip to London. We did our usual - train down on Tuesday, return on Thursday evening, but I always enjoy our trips, whirlwind as they are.

This trip, we stayed near Hyde Park which was quite brilliant. It was nice at the end of a day to eat an early dinner and go for a walk in the park to settle the baby before returning to our hotel. We also learned this trip to bring a baby cot. Just, do it.

We stopped by 221B on our way to our hotel. I didn't get the chance to go back in there, but it was really very fun to just walk by.

On Wednesday, we puttered around before deciding on visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is such a gem, with a strong focus on decorative arts and design.

The beautiful ceiling we ate under at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Museum food was very delicious.

The museum was very busy on the ground floor, but the upper levels were nearly empty. I am drawn to the quieter galleries anyhow because I like to study the pieces in relative silence.

For me, the highlight of this trip was visiting Kensington Palace and seeing the exhibit of Princess Diana dresses.

The dresses were beautifully arranged in dimly lit rooms (so not the best for pictures) but it was a gorgeous exhibit. Seeing her dresses, amid large photographs of her was really awesome. They were all so beautiful and detailed!

I was very worried that I wouldn't be able to get into Kensington because we were going later in the day and the online tickets has sold out. But, I not only got in, I didn't have to wait in a queue and there was hardly anyone there. Also, Georgie slept the whole time so it was a lovely bit of quiet while I soaked up the rooms and pushed her around in the pram. My absolute favorite exhibit, besides the exhibit on Princess Diana, was the Queen Victoria Rooms. Seeing her dresses really showed me just how petite she was. And the room with the readings of her letters written after the death of her husband Albert was incredibly moving.

It was terribly smoggy this time in London. The greyness in the picture is not from a filter, it really looked like there was heavy fog everywhere. I was so glad to reach Scotland take a deep breath of fresh air!

Wednesday, we walked all our luggage up to the British Museum and explored for a bit. Of course, the highlight for Aaron was seeing the Rosetta Stone, so I'm glad he could come along for that.