Both: Hey everyone!
Jen: It's Jen and Greg with an update on our travels.
Greg: This update is not one that's chronological. As we said before, we went in and out of London, so we're doing it more about content we're going to discuss. In this case, the Royal Residences.
Jen: And our favorite neighborhood in London - South Kensington.
Greg: The last update where we discussed how much we do like South Kensington, we did not mention it's actually home to a fair amount of diplomats and expats. It's known for being fairly French and European.
Jen: Speaking of diplomats, we met a lady named Maxine who was married to a Spanish diplomat and has apparently lived in South Kensington for quite some time. Everybody in the area seems to know her, but we met her because we were at a coffee shop waiting on our laundry to get done, and we wound up talking to her for probably about 45 minutes.
Greg: She was - I don't know - maybe in her 80s. She was not a young person. And she used to be a figure skater who taught younger people ice skating for a portion of her time. And she mentioned her husband, Alfonso, the Spanish diplomat. They moved around the world. She has two kids. Both of them, I think, work with like the UN or something. But her stories about the neighborhood and her own life were really interesting.
Jen: Yeah, we told her she should write a book.
Greg: Yes.
Jen: She laughed at us. (laughs)
Greg: Yes.
It was noteworthy, though, because at the cafe, they knew her by name. Apparently, she goes there frequently. We then went to a pharmacy to pick up some things like toothpaste and shampoo. She was in the pharmacy. And of course, the people in the pharmacy also very familiar with her and knew her by name.
Jen: Yeah, and she told them, “Make sure to take care of my new friends.”
Greg: (laughs) Yes, she did. She was quite the character. And that's another reason why we really enjoyed South Kensington.
We should mention that Wimbledon was occurring during one of those periods. So our favorite hotel, the Ampersand, was fully booked and we could not stay there.
Jen: So instead of staying at the Ampersand this time, we wound up staying at one called 100 Queens Gate, which was not too far away. And it was a Hilton property, I think.
Greg: Yeah, yeah.
And our initial impression was not great, but it got significantly better while we were there.
Jen: So we got to the hotel a little bit later than normal because it was a long travel day. And so our patience probably was not as good as it should be. And when we went to leave to go to dinner, the door would not lock. So we had to call maintenance and wait on him to get finished with the door. And it took him way longer than it should have, in my opinion.
Greg: Once maintenance got the door fixed, we went to dinner. We get back from dinner and we realized that the bed is not the same as what we booked online.
Jen: Yeah. So we booked a queen-size bed, I think.
Greg: Yes.
Jen: And it was more along the lines of a full-size bed. And we are not small people…
Greg: No.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: I mean, I know when you look at it, it's a difference of like six or eight inches, but that six or eight inches means a whole lot. (laughs)
Jen: (laughs) Yeah. So we went back down to the front and told them, “This is not acceptable.”
Greg: Right, but the interaction was not great because they looked at us like basically we were crazy. Then they type on their keyboard, look at each other, and then start basically saying like, “Yeah, that's the double room. Everything's what it is. It's the double room.” To which we had to show them our reservation - which literally said - queen bed.
And I said, “If you would like to get a tape measure, we can go and measure that bed. A queen bed should be approximately 60 inches. Would you like to get a tape measure?”
And that conversation was not really going anywhere. So I said, “Listen, it's late. We don't want to deal with a whole lot of checking in, checking out anymore today. If we stay tonight and I check out in the morning, are you going to bill me for the rest of the time on my reservation?”
And the guy said, “You will not be billed for any days that you do not stay here. And I said, “Great, we're just going to check out in the morning.” And the guy said, “I understand. However, before you check out, explain your issue to the person who is on duty in the morning up here, because right now I don't have any rooms, but they may be able to find you something to make you happy.”
So I said, “That's fine with us.”
The next morning when we woke up, the service experience was so much better.
Jen: What a difference a day makes.
Greg: Ah, exactly.
So the woman up front was so helpful. And right away, when I said, “Here's what my issue is…”
She said, “I'm very sorry. Clearly, that reservation was not worded correctly, and it is an older description. I will make a note so that we can make sure this doesn't happen for somebody else. In the meantime, let me check my system.” She said, “Yes, we have a room with a king bed available.”
And I said, “I don't want to pay the difference…
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: …I booked a room that you are not providing.”
She said, “You will not pay the difference. This is on us. We're going to make you happy.”
And it's a big reason why in many cities we like to stay in four- and five-star hotels because that's the kind of thing that you get versus staying at like a two-star hotel where they're, like, you're just lucky you've got a bed with clean sheets.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: But after she took care of us, I ran into another issue…with my CPAP.
Jen: Right. So if you're not familiar with how a CPAP works, it has replaceable parts like the hose and the nose pillow, and it was time to replace those parts.
Greg: Right. I don't normally plan on using a lot of that stuff past its normal life expectancy, but in the traveling, I figured I would. But in this case, I did start to develop a leak, which is what happens when it deteriorates enough.
So the issue was, we have an American credit card. The American site where I can purchase these parts would not ship outside of the U.S.
But, again, it's ResMed. Their site specifically for the U.K. would not take an American credit card for parts that could be delivered in the U.K.
Jen: …and we don't have a UK credit card. (laughs)
Greg: We do not.
And they don't allow gift cards. Uh, what do they call those cards that you get from Visa, which are just like prepaid or whatever?
Jen: Yeah.
Greg: Can't do those either. You have to have a legitimate bank card or credit card from the EU or the UK.
Jen: So, Greg says, “We're about to see how good this hotel really is.”
Greg: I did, because I had figured, why not ask? And maybe they can fix this problem.
Jen: The worst they can say is no.
Greg: Right.
Jen: And they didn't say no.
Greg: They did not!
I went to the concierge. When I explained my issue, he said, “Well, let me take you over.” And he brought me to the same woman that had helped us before.
Jen: She was probably tired of seeing us.
Greg: Probably.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: She then said, “Okay, I will check with the manager, but we don't really have a company credit card for expenses, so it's not like we can just purchase the part and then bill you. So let me talk to the manager and find out.”
Long story short, the concierge and the reception, along with the manager, collectively found a way for us to be able to get those parts. It just was so far above and beyond —
Jen: Right.
Greg: — what a hotel is supposed to do.
Jen: It was really appreciated.
Greg: Yeah. And the room they upgraded us to was a very nice room!
Jen: King-size bed this time! (laughs)
Greg: Right. (laughs) Right. So the real meat of this update, though —
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: — is not about our favorite neighborhood or about that interesting and strange experience with the hotel. This update is about the royal palaces and residences. Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace, and Buckingham Palace are the three that we saw.
Jen: Yes. I wanted to see all three of these.
Greg: Yeah, I mean, so did I. We didn't see them all in the same day. It wasn't like we did all three together. This is just three that we saw during periods when we were in London.
I guess let's talk about Windsor Castle.
Jen: So Windsor Castle was actually part of a tour where we also saw a couple of other things that we'll talk about in the next update. But we left London at about 7:45 in the morning, got to Windsor at about 8:30, 8:45. And it was a little frustrating because we had to walk a little bit and then we stood in line for about 30 minutes before we were even able to go through security.
So we get through security and the attraction part, the State Apartments and the Dollhouse - two different things you could see - don't actually open until 10. So we had to go straight to a long line. And we also had to be back at the bus to go to the next spot by 11. So we really only had an hour to get through all of this stuff.
Greg: You know, it really even wasn't an hour because it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to go from Windsor to the place the bus parks. And if you're not there at 11, you're at risk of being left behind.
Jen: Yes, because our tour guide said he did not mind leaving people behind. We were very mindful of that.
Greg: Yes.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: Most people were.
Jen: Yeah. So once 10 o'clock came, we were able to go into the State Apartments. We would have loved to have done both of them, but we didn't think we were going to have time to do the Queen's Dollhouse and the State Apartments. And even doing just the State Apartments with the Great Hall and all the hutches that had all the china and all of the gifts from various diplomats, so many things to see that we felt very rushed because we had to briskly go through it. Even having a quicker pace through the State Apartments, it took us about 40 minutes.
Jen: Right. It took us about 40 minutes and we went outside and saw the line to the Queen's Dollhouse was still as long as it was when we went in.
Greg: Longer, I think.
Jen: (laughs) Yeah.
So we knew we weren't going to be able to do both. So we decided to just go ahead and start heading back to the bus. We passed by St. George's Chapel, but we weren't able to go in because it was Sunday and they actually have services there still, so…
Greg: Yeah, and if you're not familiar with Windsor, let me give you just a little bit. It is the oldest occupied castle in Europe. It's like 900 years of British monarchs in Windsor Castle continuously.
And you hear us mention the Dollhouse. That is specifically a very extravagant scaled replica of Windsor Castle that has like running water and electricity and a fully stocked wine cellar. It's crazy!
Jen: Yeah. Actually, there's a YouTube video if you want to look it up because they go through each little room and the miniatures and everything was taken out and cataloged and put back in. So it was neat to see running water in a dollhouse.
Greg: Yeah, it would have been nice to see it, especially because this was some kind of, like, 50-year anniversary.
Jen: I think it was longer than that. (**Editor’s note - 2024 is actually the 100-year anniversary of the Queen’s Dollhouse.)
Greg: Right. In any case, St. George's Chapel was closed.
Jen: Yes.
Greg: If you're not familiar with what that is, it is the resting place of several monarchs, including Henry VIII.
Jen: And more recently, Queen Elizabeth II.
Greg: Yes.
Jen: So, and Prince Philip, I guess…
Greg: I'm not sure.
Jen: I don't know. (**Editor’s note - Prince Phillip is indeed buried at St. George’s Chapel.)
But yeah, so she's actually buried there, but the only day of the week it's not open is on Sundays to tourists. So that was a bit of a bummer, but…
Greg: It was the only day we could make it happen.
Jen: Yeah, for sure.
Greg: Another little interesting piece is St. George's Chapel has a lot of very impressive stained glass. During World War II, they took all of it out in order to keep it safe from when the Germans were bombing the UK.
Jen: We learned a lot about how things were protected in World War II from the Germans. (laughs)
Greg: Yeah. Or in the case of like the Last Supper in Milan from Allied bombing.
Jen: Yeah, true.
Greg: In any case, overall Windsor Castle was very large and as impressive as you think when it comes to a historic royal castle.
Jen: Yeah, and I think I would recommend if anybody goes to visit and wants to see it. It's an easy train ride from London to Windsor. There's a station 10 minutes away. Just go do it yourself to have the time to explore the town and everything too.
Greg: Yeah, I agree. That's really our only complaint from Windsor.
Jen: Yeah.
Greg: The next place that we will talk about is Kensington Palace. If you're not familiar, for a while, Princess Diana and Prince Charles with their boys lived there.
Jen: Yeah.
Greg: Then Prince William and Princess Kate lived there until recently.
Jen: Right. 2022, I think, they moved to actually the Windsor Castle grounds.
Greg: Yes. So, it is the birthplace and childhood home of Queen Victoria, and she apparently described her time there as lonely and isolated.
Jen: That's kind of sad.
Greg: Yeah. There's a lot of stuff about Queen Victoria through Kensington Palace, and you really do, you learn two things. Number one, the genuine infatuation that she had with her husband from the beginning.
Jen: Albert.
Greg: Yes. And overall, her experience at Kensington Palace, she really was kind of alone a lot.
Jen: Yeah. One of the other cool things at Kensington Palace was The Sunken Garden area outside. That was actually one of Princess Diana's, like, favorite spots in the palace. And now they've transformed it kind of into a memorial for her with her favorite flowers, which includes forget-me-nots apparently. But there's a nice little statue of her with a little pond in front of it. It's really kind of a peaceful little area.
Greg: Yeah, but they keep you at a distance. You're not allowed to go that close up to that.
Jen: Right, right. You can see it from across the way.
But I would say Kensington Palace, I think I had in my head that it was going to be a lot fancier than it actually was. When you hear the word ‘palace’, you kind of have this thing in your head and, “Oh, the royals live there. It must be fancy.” Um, but it was a lot more modest than a lot of the other ‘royal’ sites we've seen.
Greg: Yeah, but when you consider when it was constructed and the original royals that lived there, it was palatial for its time. But yeah, in the standards that we think of today, it is kind of modest by comparison.
Jen: Yeah. I mean, it was definitely nice. But I wouldn't say…Wow!
Greg: No, it was lavish inside. Yes, but it was no Buckingham Palace.
Jen: Yeah. (laughs) True.
Greg: I guess there's a segue for you.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: Buckingham Palace is the last one that we're going to talk about that we saw. And look, Kensington Palace is definitely a palace, but Buckingham Palace has all of the grandeur that you think of when you think of ‘palace’.
Jen: Yeah, I mean, it's the red carpet, the gold leaf everything, the chandeliers, the artwork. I wasn't expecting to walk in and go into, like, a mini art museum.
Greg: Yeah, and the artwork they had was some impressive stuff. I mean, I think that, uh, we read it has like 7,000 paintings, almost a half a million prints, a bunch of rare manuscripts.
Jen: Yeah, it was really cool. And we also, speaking of art, got to see King Charles’ first official portrait that caused such a stir when it was first released. Um, they have it on display.
Greg: Yeah, and I don't understand why people were in an uproar about it. I think it's a decent piece. It's way bigger than I expected, but it's painted very well. And I get, you know, there's an artistic impression to it. I thought it was fine.
Jen: Speaking of King Charles and Buckingham Palace, fun little fact that I learned this time was you can always tell if he's actually in residence by the type of flag that's flying on the flagpole. So if the Royal Standard is up, that means he's actually there. Otherwise, it's just the Union Jack. Unfortunately, while we were there, the Union Jack was flying, so he was not at the palace.
Greg: Another cool thing we did not realize until they specifically point this out is that Buckingham Palace only lets you view 19 rooms whenever they open it up to the public. But there are, like, over 600 rooms in the palace.
Jen: Yeah, and I think I read somewhere after that Queen Elizabeth even said that she had never been in all 600 rooms of the palace.
Greg: So yeah, that's the three royal palaces that we visited at various times during the in and out of London. I thought each of them were really cool in their own way, and I'm glad we went to see each one of them.
Jen: Yeah, I am too. Definitely the part of history that I wanted to see, but I had no idea that it was also going to be like a museum with art and furniture and...
Greg: Yeah, well, and Buckingham has more than just paintings and prints. They had marble statues literally from ancient Rome.
Jen: Yeah, I love some Roman marble statues…
Greg: Yes, but that's a different update.
Jen: Yes.
Greg: The next update, we'll talk specifically about Bath, which is a city that has Roman baths from 2,000 years ago.
Jen: Yeah. Jane Austen also lived there.
Greg: And Mary Shelley.
Jen: Yes, she actually wrote Frankenstein in Bath.
Greg: There you go. Stonehenge is something we'll talk about in the next update.
Jen: Yep! And the British Museum.
Greg: The Great British Museum!
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: So I hope you guys will look forward to that. And thank you for checking in!
Jen: And we'll see you at the next stop!
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