Walked to the Portobello Road Market. Chris bought a Bavarian sausage (yes, always buying food) and I had a look at the lovely Electric Cinema. We had a lot of walking ahead of us so I didn't want to do the full length of the market. We saw George Orwell's house on Portobello Road.
We walked back to Notting Hill Gate and down Kensington Church Street again. We had been looking out for a laundrette and had spotted one here the other day. They are few and far between in central London with the exception of Paddington. We finally got some washing done and while the machine was going we went to the roof gardens at 99 Kensington High Street. This is the site of the last of the Biba stores, known as Big Biba, and it certainly was big. It now houses a Gap, Marks and Spencer and BHS. To find the roof gardens you go down the side street, Derry Street and enter from there. There's a concierge who has to check that there's no corporate functions on and if not you are free to go up to level 6. The gardens are now owned by Virgin and have been restored to their former glory, as Barbara Hulanicki of Biba had done in 1970 when she bought the building and discovered a family of flamingos living up there. Their predecessors had been there since the 1920s when the gardens were first opened. The gardens are largely unknown to Londoners and the flamingos and ducks are still there.
We collected our washing and caught the tube from Kensington High Street to Sloane Square. In case you're wondering, the washing was in a back pack carried by Chris.
At Sloane Square, Chelsea, we popped into Peter Jones, yet another department store and then headed for the King's Road. It's mainly high street chain stores now and a few high end boutiques. We walked as far as Oakley Street, another of Pattie Boyd's former haunts. I recognised the houses (they are all the same white terraces with black iron fences) from some modelling shots of Pattie posing in front of her house. If you continue down Oakley Street to the Thames it joins with Albert Bridge. We didn't cross the bridge to Battersea Park as Chris was feeling a bit unwell so we just had a look at Cheyne walk, former home of many writers and poets including George Elliot and Mick and Keef (of the Rolling Stones) before heading back to Sloan Square tube.
Went back to the hotel and saw a mouse running down our corridor (and this the Hilton!) Chris had a rest at the hotel and then I suggested we actually check out this Holland Park that the suburb gets its name from. So glad we did. It's delightful. Wilderness in central London. We saw squirrels so we've seen lots of wildlife in one day!
We went out for dinner at the Bombay Bicycle club.
Got back to our room and of course the mouse is in it. We tried to shoo it away but it was too fast and we were too tired to do anything about it although I had a very fitful sleep worrying about it crawling over me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment