FUNDON Day 4

Pooey and I discussed that since I was in London for so long, we should do some actual tourist activities rather than only shopping and eating. We bandied about ideas like visiting Highclere castle (it wasn't open for visitors in June) or a trip to Dover (decided there wasn't enough for us there), before deciding to just go to Kensington Palace. Pooey had never been there at all; I had only been to the gardens and Orangery, and it's close to Harrods for post-tourism shopping so off we went! 

The gates leading to the palace. I approached the palace from the rear and ended up in the wrong place before a guard came out of the palace and told us where to go. He knew we were lost because he could hear me singing.

The palace has been a royal residence for centuries and had a banquette with embroidered portraits of various residents.

Me with cushions of two current residents - Kate and Wills!

There was also an exhibition of dresses worn by the Queen, and Princesses Margaret and Diana. It was quite interesting in how it displayed how the dresses are designed and chosen.

For example, in their youth, the Queen and Princess Margaret would wear dresses in light colours so that they would stand out in a crowd of dignitaries, who would be likely wearing dark clothes.

The Queen would also wear more 'traditional' and feminine designs. Also....(whisper...the Queen was stacked).

Princess Margaret had a teeeeeeeeeny waist that was accentuated by her clothes.

She could also be more daring with her outfits than the Queen due to having less restrictions. 

Also, I'm just going to put in this portrait of Princess Margaret taken by her photographer husband Lord Snowdon. I think we looked at this and then me and Pooey commented to each other that Princess Margaret was clearly a hottie of her time.

Diana's dresses were less codified, say compared the Queen's, and instead reflected the direct fashions of the time - lots of drop waists and shoulder pads. Also, looking at these dresses made me realise how tall she was. 

After this, we went through the rooms, starting with the Georgian state apartments and then onto Victoria's rooms.

We had a bit of fun with the displays.

And Pooey dressed me up in a costume so that we could have the experience. It was quite heavy to wear.

Seriously, the panniers were a bit ridiculous

There were some actors pretending to be nobility wandering around, and they showed us that women had to walk through the doors sideways to accommodate their dreses.

The Victoria apartments had a section on Queen Victoria's lonely childhood and examples of the toys she would have had. As I played with them, Pooey pointed out that I also really looked like a child. 

And after all that history, we walked past the Albert Memorial to get to Harrods.

For dinner that night, Pooey and I met up with Aussies Amandine & Justin, Liz & Chris, and Cam & Esther. I had been craving steak and Pooey suggested we head to Goodmans, with the City location convenient to all. We also made the best decision ever to have a 3 course meal but to share all the courses rather than have each of our own because we both wanted the same things.

Entree of pan fried foie gras with brioche and fig chutney. As I was eating this, I realised that it's been a long time since I had foie gras...

Our main - Irish fillet cooked medium rare. Mmmm, look at that blood.

Shared sides of beans, fries, and truffled macaroni and cheese. To be honest, I couldn't really taste the truffle in the mac & cheese. That was kind of annoying. Also, I realise I didn't take an photos of my friends! But that's Amandine's arms opposite me!

Finally, our dessert of fried pineapple. So retro 80s :D

Sharing our meal was the best decision we ever made. Pooey and I usually eat until our eyes can't handle it anymore but this time when we stood up, we felt full but not overly, needing to sleep on our sides full. It was a good feeling to have after many days of continuous overfeeding.