Onion River Exploration Project: Spun

Eileen at the Gardens of Kensington Palace

Day 12 (8/24/12)

It is our last full day in London. We had already planned on spending the day walking around Kensington, the area which we were staying. Kensington Palace didn’t open until 10:00 so we ended up hanging out in Kensington Park for an hour. It was all good though, we found a little coffee vender with some great coffee. Kensington Palace was occupied by Diana, Princess of Wales until her death in 1997. It is currently being prepared for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge who are expected to move in 2013. Our first impression was sort of underwhelming. The side that was considered the Queens apartments was not really furnished and seemed a little contrived. As we explored further into the Queens chambers though it got better and better. When we got to the Kings State Apartments it was more what we expected. Each room was grander than the last. Finally we made our way to the Kings staircase which was everything you would expect in a royal palace. We spent a little time in the gift shop and it was off to the serpentine gallery and the Yoko Ono show. The serpentine Gallery was perhaps a fifteen minute walk across Kensington Park. Along the path you could catch glimpses of the Prince Albert Memorial we had visited our first day in London. When we got to the gallery we found out that Yoko Ono occupied the entire interior space. It was free though so we had a go. There were some pieces that I liked and others that I found a bit superficial.

It was one of the few galleries that didn’t allow photography but I didn’t see the sign until after I got a shot of my favorite piece. Outside the Serpentine there was a large scale piece that was a collaboration between architects, Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron and artist Ai Weiwei. Interestingly it is half underground and half above with a shallow reservoir of water for the roof which acts as a mirror. Next it is a short walk to the Victoria and Albert Art Museum where we spent a couple of hours perusing the art and eating lunch. One of the highlights at the V&A was the “Spun” chair. It is a plastic chair in the shape of a spindle that spins when you sit in it. We really want to get one. The other highlight was the room of plaster models. They had molded and modeled some of the greatest artifacts of history including the column of Trajan and the Northern Portal of the “Urnes Stave Church”. One can only spend so much time in one museum before you start getting a little stir crazy so after a couple hours we headed back to our hotel and got cleaned up to try one last pub that our concierge had recommended.