Jolly Old England, Part 4

Recently, my wife and I ventured to London, England, for a two-week trip to see the old country and take in the sights. She’s been to London before, but I’d never been, and it was a real treat to go stomping around the capital of the UK for an extended stay. Thanks ahead of time for tagging along on our wee adventure! In my previous articles, I talked about our arrival, then seeing a whole bunch of London sites, including Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, the theater district, Piccadilly Circus, and the Tower of London.

Notting Hill – it’s a real place!!

Day 5 was a Saturday, and we kicked it off by staying near our Airbnb instead of traveling far afield. We were staying in the world-famous Notting Hill, and we were finally getting around to exploring it! We’d saved this for a Saturday so we could walk through the famous Portobello Road Street Market, which is busiest on Saturday mornings. Plus, I was eager to find a bunch of my favorite locations from the movie – turns out they’re all real.

We walked through some beautiful neighborhoods before we arrived at the street market, and it was busy! Shops line both sides of the street, and on the weekend, vendors set up stalls in front of them. This market has been going on since 1863.

Portobello Road Street Market

My wife must have been psychic, because she suggested we grab lunch and just after we found a delightful café – Brasseria Notting Hill – where we could find breakfast and coffee, the skies opened up and poured. People were running through the streets while we sat inside, and yes, I felt a little bad as I enjoyed my French toast and sipped orange juice and an espresso martini.

Notting Hill Gift Shop

After lunch, we continued on, finding the Notting Hill Gift Shop, which served as the exterior for the cute Travel bookshop from the movie. Another block down and on a side street, we found the Notting Hill Bookshop, the small bookstore they used for the interior shots. The place is really small inside and it was packed full of people.

Notting Hill Bookshop

Wrapping up our trip to Notting Hill – we found the famous Blue Door! It has an interesting story that I won’t spoil here. But a replica of the original door is back now and near the original location, and it’s next to a very popular Starbucks. You can search it up on Google Earth – it’s at the corner of Westbourne Park Road and Portobello Road.

Notting Hill's Famous Blue Door

Natural History Museum and More

The next day, Sunday, we headed out to take in the Natural History Museum. This world-famous museum is housed in a MASSIVE building. According to Wikipedia, the museum is home to “life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology and zoology.”

Natural History Museum

Once inside, we were treated to a massive hanging skeleton of a blue whale named “Hope.” While the photos from below are great, I took this photo from a gallery above, and it really shows off the size of this massive creature. I guess they needed a building that big to house this beast!! The skeleton, suspended from the ceiling of the central hall, is some 82 feet long and weighs 4.5 tons.

Blue Whale Skeleton

Albert Hall – and Fish and Chips!

After leaving the Natural History Museum, we walked across the street to the Victor and Albert Museum, which was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. While we didn’t make it inside—it was closing for the day—we did get to see the bomb damage on the exterior, evidence of the Blitz and bombs that fell in the area.

According to Atlas Obscura, “the dents and chips are remnants of the German military bombing campaigns of World War II. Despite being under constant bombardment, the museum mostly remained open during the air raids. Sandbags and other methods of protection were used to prevent its artifacts from being destroyed. The museum did close briefly due to an explosion that caused severe damage to the entrances and windows along the western side. These battle scars were not removed and now exist as a tribute to the museum–and country's—resolve during the war. On the righthand side of the Exhibition Road entrance is a plaque informing visitors of what the pockmarks along the western frontage indicate. Artist David Kindersley managed to incorporate some of the building's damage into the plaque.”

Heading north up Exhibition Road, we walked in the direction of Hyde Park, passing the Imperial College, the Royal Geographic Society, and ending up at the massive Royal Albert Hall. I wanted to see this as it’s featured in Hitchcock’s 1956 classic “The Man Who Knew Too Much.”

Royal Albert Hall

Crossing into Hyde Park, we saw the massive Albert Memorial, an odd and outsized sculpture across from the Royal Albert Hall. Heading west, we walked to Kensington Street, where Sam did some quick shopping before we headed back to our neighborhood. Dinner was at the local pub, The Castle, and I enjoyed an amazing dinner of actual fish and chips and a great pint of beer. It was a welcome treat after such a long day!

Fish ‘n Chips and a pint, gov'na!!!

Thanks for tagging along on my trip to London. More soon!