International Incident #1

Today I went to Kensington Palace with my friend D. This was the palace that Prince Charles & Diana moved into shortly after they married. Diana continued to live there after their divorce until she died in 1997. It was also the home of Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth's sister and continues to be the home of other minor royals today.

There is so much history in these palaces. This palace was the birthplace of Queen Victoria, home to many monarchs including William & Mary in the 1600s. It was redesigned (which I think is a fancier word for remodel) by the famous architect Christopher Wren. You can't walk a block in London without tripping over a church designed by Christopher Wren. He is said to have designed over 50 churches in London, including St. Paul's. Many more buildings also claim Wren connections, very similar to the "George Washington slept here" signs in the eastern United States. Like the George Washington proclamations, you can't really be too sure of the accuracy of all of these "Wren built this" claims.

Kensington is beautiful and like most of the palaces I have seen so far it is chock full of art and beautiful furnishings. They have some of the rooms set up as they would have been at the time of the various monarchs, with the original tapestries, linens, tables, chairs etc. I like that kind of thing and it was fascinating to see the bedroom of Queen Mary as it would have been at the time of her death from smallpox in 1684. It is also supposed to have the most beautiful rose garden there but it is too early for that now. I will have to go back and check it out later. There was also an Orangerie which is, duh, a greenhouse built specifically to grow citrus usually in tubs or large planters. Apparently Orangeries were all the rage in palaces all over Europe in the 1700s and everyone, but everyone, had to have one. The original building still exists but now it is a cute little cafe where you can have breakfast, light lunch or tea.

Well, there was one little incident at the Palace and I am hoping it won't cause me any problems at the border or going to other palaces. While we were in one of the rooms, I noticed this china piece by the fireplace. Actually there were 2 pieces, china pagoda type looking things flanking the fireplace. The pagoda had several levels and on each level in the corner there were holes that looked like holders for something. I thought maybe candles. You put a candle in each holder and it would look kind of like a mult-level candelabra. D & I were looking at it pretty close, kind of leaning over near it and I gestured very widely toward one of the pagodas to point out something. No! It is not what you are thinking, I didn't knock it over!!! Ha! But, I guess I got a little close because I set off a very loud piercing alarm. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Guards came running from several different directions and I noticed the other tourists quickly distanced themselves from D & me. Security rapidly ascertained that we hadn't pocketed any royal knick-knacks and explained that all of these things were protected by sensors and invisible security. I must have crossed a light sensor or something. As we chatted up the guards, we found out that the chinese pagoda wasn't a candle holder - it was actually something called a tulipere. William & Mary were Dutch and had a fondness for tulips. You put a tulip stem in each one of the holes and it created sort of a flower arrangement. I really can't imagine it and personally I think I would have used it as a candle holder. I think it might have been prettier.

So hopefully my picture is not being faxed to other palaces over the country advising them of a slightly strange, almost clumsy, semi-local American who comes very close to knocking over priceless ugly relics. Please defend me!