Sharon got tickets for the Sky Garden at 10:45 am. Tom, his friend Mary, Sharon and I walked to the Underground and rode to the Monument Station. The Sky Garden is on the opposite side of the river from the Shard. Although not as tall as the Shard, it is an interesting large open space with some nice views of London.
Afterwards, I split off from the group. Sharon had made a 1:30 pm reservation for the Shard. I decided to pass. Jack, Sharon and I had a very nice visit to the Shard in '19. I felt like I would rather explore some places that we hadn't visited before.
I walked from the Sky Garden to Convent Garden. I explored the area. From there, I jumped on the Underground to the K Road Station and walked to Kensington Palace. I had a 1:30 pm ticket. I skimmed through the Crown to Couture exhibition. The show highlighted how the trailblazing fashion of 18th-century nobility had inspired today’s iconic red-carpet looks. I enjoyed walking through the state apartments, including the room where Queen Victoria was born.
After touring Kensington Palace, I looked for the Speke Monument. This monument is mentioned at the end of Candice Millard's River of Gods book.
From there, I walked through Kensington Park to Oxford Street. I explored this upscale shopping area. I continued down Regent Street to Picadilly Cirus and then back to Covent Garden. I jumped on the Underground and headed back to the hotel.
Sharon eventually wound her way back to the hotel in the late afternoon. We had a glass of wine and a snack (Trio di bruschette integrali ‘whole wheat’ with stracchino cheese, fresh tomatoes and olives tapenade) in the Terrazza Bar. Sharon struck up a conversation with the Italian manager of the restaurant.
We had intended to try and go back to Dishoom for dinner. We had dinner there in '19 and really enjoyed it. When we got to the restaurant, they quoted an hour and twenty minute wait.
We ended up wandering down the street to a Mediterranean restaurant called Pascor. We had a very nice dinner. We started with homemade mini Challah bread served with sun-dried tomatoes butter and homemade labneh and a Watermelon & feta salad [Cherry tomatoes, herb vinaigrette, zaatar crisps]. For entrees, we split Sea bass [Pistachio crust, green peas cream, roasted spring onion and dried tomatoes] and Grilled Octopus [Cauliflower cream, kumquat, basil oil].
After dinner, we wandered back to the hotel and crashed just before 10 pm. For the day, I had almost 26,000 steps and covered almost twelve miles.
footnote: I wrote this long entry on the train from London to York.
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