I’m not sure how I sold Amir on today’s itinerary because it involves a lot of “girlie” stuff. Fortunately he’s a pretty cosmopolitan guy and also willing to humor me (thanks babe!).

We had reservations for high tea at Kensington Palace at 12:30, so we left the house a bit early knowing we wanted to spend time in the gardens at Kensington. We knew about the lovely Princess Diana Memorial playground, but we didn’t know we could also expect a carousel and a Disney car ride.

The carousel spun surprisingly fast with a noticiable centripetal force. By the time I thought better of letting #1LittleSister ride on her own, we were already spinning. Fortunately I could reach out from my horse and steady her leg. We all survived – she loved it.

We knew a few of us were too young to appreciate tea and couture, so we made a plan for Amir and I to attend tea with #1BigSister while Liza picnicked in the gardens with the other two. Later on, Amir and Liza swapped places, and Liza and I took #1BigSister into tour Kensington Palace and see the couture exhibit.

The menu included options for a grown-up tower or a children’s tower. In theory each tower serves one person, but in reality Amir and I split one which was plenty.

We ordered Earl Grey Black tea, and she ordered Red Velvet fruit tea. When the “children’s tower” arrived, I admit I was a bit jealous. Anything served with candy floss (AKA cotton candy) is super fun and unique.

We topped the meal off with two glasses of Prosecco and called it a wrap. We needed to get back to Liza to make the swap ahead of the Palace tour. On our way back, we peeked into the Diana reflecting pool. There’s a statue of Diana commissioned in 2021 by her sons, and placed here as Diana spent hours walking these paths and chatting with the gardners.

When we walked back to meet Liza, she and the kids were enjoying the pirate ship inside the Princess Diana Memorial playground. The area may be one of the largest play areas I’ve ever seen. Made entirely of wood and not plastic, it’s a beautiful compliment to the natural surroundings.

We had thought we’d signed up for a Downton Abbey type tour of Kensington Palace, but we were delighted to find a special exhibition entitled “Crown to Couture,” featuring gowns from the Victorian age juxtaposed with avant-garde Met Gala gowns from the last five years.

In addition to the couture exhibit, we were also able to see parts of the palace. Of particular interest were Queen Victoria’s bassinet and childhood toys. They also have a room with all of her jewels encased for viewing.

I’m not sure Amir would have appreciated this exhibit as much as we did, but I know he enjoyed his time in the park with the kids. Leaving Kensington Palace we stopped by a food stand where I grabbed a PIMMs cup for me and a bucket of strawberries and cream for the kids. When we arrived to the gardens, Amir had everyone in the grass, shoes off, eating snacks and playing fetch with a King Charles Spaniel from the next blanket over.

We walked from Kensington Gardens to Harrods with the intention of looking at the toys but barely made it into the building when we found ourselves immersed in chocolate and whipping out the ApplePay.

After buying chocolate figs, chocolate bark and various truffles, we extricated ourselves from the sweets only to land in the to-go food area, ordering four Thai dishes and three kinds of fresh pasta with sauces. Clearly we’d made the mistake of going to the store hungry.

Exhausted after battling the infinite requests for toys from the 4th floor of Harrods, Amir read my mind and snagged a black cab for the ride home rather than taking the tube. Part of me thinks he just wanted to rush home and eat the amazing food we bought, but either way, I was on board with both tired and hungry.

Tomorrow Liza is taking the day off, so we think we’ll head out to Kew Garden in the west. There’s space for the kids to run around and some shade for us adults. We’ll see how we feel when we wake up.

– Steph