Castles For My Mother

Kensington Palace Across the Round Pond

My Mother is coming to visit in a couple of weeks time and I've been trying to plan an itinerary.  It hasn't been easy, because she hadn't been providing much guidance on what she wants to do apart from see "where the Queen lives".  She is not a traveller.  She's seen a lot of the US, but she hasn't done a lot of overseas travel apart from New Zealand and Australia and a cruise or two in the Caribbean.  Although, if you ask her, she also counts her trip to Hawaii as an 'overseas' trip.

Don't get me wrong.  She's not one of those birther nut jobs who, against all evidence to the contrary, believe that President Obama was not born in the US, because he was born in Hawaii.  My Mother knows Hawaii is a US state.  But, you have to fly over the Pacific Ocean to get there.  So, it's overseas.  Isn't it?

Anyway, this trip will be her first trip over the Atlantic and finally this weekend I got a hint of what she wants to do.  She said she wanted to see the changing of the guard and visit a castle.  She's been consulting friends at her water aerobics class.  It wasn't much, but also knowing she likes gardens and the Buckingham Palace thing, it gave me a bit more to start with.  So, yesterday, I started looking at the options.

Rob suggested Hampton Court Palace which offers some wonderful gardens and a palace.  Kensington Palace and it's gardens was one I thought of.  And, since Will & Kate live there, she'll want to see Kensington.  By castle, though, I knew she wasn't thinking of palaces.  She was thinking huge stone walls, arrow loops, towers, drawbridges and moats.   So, I thought Tower of London and maybe something further a field like Arundel Castle - home of the Norfolks.  And, of course, there is Windsor.

I started investigating the London lot.  Buckingham Palace was out, because the staterooms are only open for a week starting 30 June and then from the end of July until early October.  So, she'll see the outside and the mews, which is open.  The others were all good, but pretty pricey at about £52 total for each of us.  Fortunately though, a good look at the Historic Royal Palaces website showed they offer annual memberships.  Membership gives you unlimited access to Hampton Court, Kensington, the Tower plus two more and a joint membership was just £65.  And, you also get special tours like roof-top tours of Hampton Court, other events and a book.  What a bargain!

The Serpentine West of Bridge

So, this morning's walk was off to Kensington Palace to join up.  You can join online, of course, but to get my temporary card and membership package faster I decided to sign up the old fashioned way.  Besides with the good weather we've been having a walk along The Serpentine would be nice.

I set out from Victoria.  Walked up to Hyde Park corner and into the park.  That's where Kensington Palace resides.  Having now lived in London for two months, I knew the way.  I took a path I didn't know, but it was heading in the right direction.  I walked along the path in the shade of the towering London plane trees dodging the occasional bike rider on the bike path.  The walking path is wider, but the sun was too much.

All along the left of the path, the preparations for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations this weekend were well underway.  Much of the park was fenced off and marquees were being set up for the Jubilee Family Festival.  It was getting a bit hot, even in the shade, but I resisted the temptation to sit down on one of the many park benches along the way to cool off.   I knew the Palace was just ahead.

Then the Marble Arch appeared in the distance.  Crap!  It seems I didn't know the way after all.  I'd walked North and not West.  I needed to go West at Hyde Park Corner.  In hindsight, since I hadn't been walking along the waters of The Serpentine at any point, I should have known.

Having embarrassed myself in front of myself, I needed a coffee.  I bought a black Americano at the Speakers Corner cafe, sat down and pulled out the iPhone.  I consulted the little blue dot.  Sure enough, it confirmed I was on the opposite side of the park from Kensington.  I finished my coffee and hit the road again.  The Jubilee works meant some of the paths weren't passable, but I let the dot lead the way.

Queen's Swans at the Round Pond

The dot took me to the Serpentine Bridge.  Then to the Round Pond and eventually to the Kensington Palace entrance.  I love the dot.

A helpful volunteer just inside the door took me past the queue to the membership desk.  I filled out the form, got three extra months free for signing up for an annual direct debit and was given my temporary card and membership pack - easy peasy.

I asked the guy how the system worked.  He told me the card allowed me to queue jump.  I liked that.  All I needed to do was go to the entrance and show the card.  Since I was there and entrances were unlimited, I figured I might as well give it a go.  I walked up to the woman at the entrance gave her the card and I was in.  Cool.

The public rooms weren't what I expected.  They were a cross between a children's history book - paper dolls, cardboard buildings and whispering walls - and an art museum.  One of the exhibits was seriously odd.  It had 18 little chairs representing Queen Anne's 18 pregnancies.  She was pregnant 18 times, but died without an heir.  Only Prince William lived past infancy and he died in 1700 at the age of eleven.  I get it.  It was the end of the Stuart line, but the exhibit was a tad morbid.

What was missing was the normal bling you expect of a palace.  It did have the required portraits on the walls, but not much in the way of gilded mirrors, marble mantlepieces, fancy furniture and heaps of ceramics, silver and glass.  Some may like the change, but I know my Mother's will be somewhat disappointed on her visit to Will and Kate's place.  That said, I did learn that on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays they have afternoon garden tours.  She'll like that.  So, that aids the planning...