Kensington, South Kensington, Earl's Court and Knightsbridge

- Harrods, Hyde Park, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington High Street, Gloucester Road, Brompton Road, Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum

Kensington is a district (part of the Kensington and Chelsea borough) with a more classical London approach. Many hotels are situated there. In South Kensington, a separate district, you find the Royal Albert Hall, St Mary Abbots Church, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). The main steet is Kensington High Street, where you find large department stores like Mark& Spencers and H&M. Kensington Gardens, known for the beautiful Albert Memorial is bordering Kensington and Hyde Park. Gloucester Road, Old Brompton Road and Cromwell Road are some other main roads in Kensington.

In Earl’s Court (part of the Kensington and Chelsea borough), just South of Kensington, there are many hotels and private residences, many located in Victorian townhouses. Earl’s Court is also where I stayed the last night, at the 3-star Best Western Boltons Hotel. This is a small hotel in a townhouse,  with very small rooms but nice staff and good breakfast and good value for money. It is situated on Penywern Road, near Earls Court Road, the main road and underground station. A strange thing that happened when I was at the Earl’s Court Station to travel home from Stansted Airport via Stratford, was that a man warned throught the speakers about “an emergency, all people must leave the station immediately”. People were not exactly panicking but after about one minute the same voice said “this was just a test, you can stay”. This was a reminder of the danger and potential terror threats.

Knightsbridge is known as a small retail district in the West End, mostly famous for Harrods on Brompton Road. Harrods is UKs largest and one of the world’s largest department store. It is very upscale with “all things for all people, everywhere” as the slogan. Inside there is interesting architecture, atriums and an Egyptian escalator. Harrods was founded in 1849. It is located over 90,000 m2) and has 330 departments on 8 floors. There are two memorials for Diana and Dodi Fayed inside the store.
The world’s most expensive apartment, One Hyde Park, is in Knightsbridge, as well as the beautiful and luxiourios Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Hyde Park is the most famous park and one of the biggest in central London, but the neighbouring Kensington Gardens is more beautiful. It features the grandiose Prince Albert Monument and the famous concert hall Royal Abert Hall, a beautiful red circular builidng .

 

Kensington:

Kensington High Street 03 Kensington High Street 04 Kensington High Street 26Kensington Arcade Kensington Arcade Kensington High Street 05 Kensington High Street 06 Kensington High Street 07 Kensington High Street 08 - St Mary Abbots Church Kensington High Street 09 - St Mary Abbots Church Kensington High Street 10 Kensington High Street 11 Kensington High Street 12 Kensington High Street 13Kensington High Street 14 St Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington St Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington St Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington St Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington St Mary Abbot's Church, Kensington Kensington High Street 22 Kensington High Street 23 - Mark & Spencer, H&M Kensington High Street 24 Kensington High Street 25

South Kensington:

Royal Albert HallSouth Kensington 06 South Kensington 07 - Cromwell RoadSouth Kensington 08 - Doubletree by Hilton South Kensington 09 - Cromwell Road South Kensington 10 - Radisson Vanderbilt Hotel South Kensington 11 South Kensington 12 South Kensington 13 Natural History Museum, South Kensington Natural History Museum, South Kensington South Kensington 16 Natural History Museum, South Kensington Natural History Museum, South Kensington Natural History Museum, South Kensington Natural History Museum, South Kensington Natural History Museum, South KensingtonSouth Kensington 20 South Kensington 21 Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington South Kensington 25 Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington Natural History Museum, South Kensington South Kensington 28 - Cromwell Rd South Kensington 29 South Kensington 30 South Kensington 31 South Kensington 32 South Kensington 33 South Kensington 34 South Kensington 35 South Kensington 36 South Kensington 37 South Kensington 38 South Kensington 39 South Kensington 40 Earl's Court Earl's Court Earl's Court Station Earl's Court, Kensington 01 Best Western Boltons Hotel 01 Best Western Boltons Hotel 02 Best Western Boltons Hotel 03 Best Western Boltons Hotel 05 Best Western Boltons Hotel 06 Best Western Boltons Hotel 07 Best Western Boltons Hotel 08 Best Western Boltons Hotel, breakfast Gloucester Arcade, Kensington Gloucester Arcade, Kensington Earl's Court Station Earl's Court, Kensington 03 Earl's Court, Kensington 04 Earl's Court, Kensington 05 Earl's Court, Kensington 06 Earl's Court, Kensington 07 Earl's Court, Kensington 08 Earl's Court, Kensington 09 Earl's Court, Kensington 10 Earl's Court, Kensington by night 01 Earl's Court, Kensington by night 02 Earl's Court, Kensington by night 04 Earl's Court, Kensington by night 05 Earl's Court, Kensington by night 06

Knightsbridge:

Harrod's, Knightsbridge 2006 03Harrod's, Knightsbridge 2006 02Harrod's, Knightsbridge 2006 04 Harrod's 2006 01 Harrod's 2006 02 Harrod's 2006 03 Harrod's 2006 04 Harrod's, Knightsbridge 2006 01Harrod's 2006 05 Harrod's 2006 06 Harrod's 2006 07Knightsbridge - Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens:

Hyde Park 2006 01 Hyde Park 2006 02 Hyde Park 2006 03 Hyde Park 2006 04 Prince Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens