Hanging in the Neighborhood

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Since we were staying for a week in London, we opted for a small, shabby-chic flat in Kensington rather than a hotel.  It's a few blocks off Kensington High Street--great location--and has a living room with two sofa beds for the kids, a separate bedroom for us, a huge bathroom, and a little kitchen.  Perfect!


Given our lack of sleep--and the fact that it was lunch, all we wanted to do was eat!!!  We wandered toward Kensington High Street and found a hole in the wall Italian place with a reasonable lunch special: Romano's Ristorante Italiano.  The day turned out to be quite sunny but also quite chilly, so a lunch of steaming Minestrone and plates of perfectly sauced pastas hit the spot.  It was amazingly delicious and brought us back to life.  Then, a couple blocks up, just past Starbucks, we found its British competitor: Costa.  It has one-upped Starbucks on the number of hot chocolates and vanilla cremes rolled out for the holiday ... plus, it's British!  And, it had comfy chairs for the most tired member of our team.  Winner!!



After coming down from our caffeine highs, we took long naps, waking in time to wander our Kensington neighborhood on the way to David Tennant's favorite restaurant: Nando's.  After all, where else would we eat on the eve of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebration?

This is a great neighborhood for strolling and window shopping and sight seeing.  Great phone booths, bizarro only-in-Kensington shoppes like one dedicated to "Bohemian Chandeliers," awesome Brit-brands like TopShop, and tons of little restaurants.  In the past, Ned and I have stayed in Bloomsbury, but I have to say that, so far, Kensington is rocking it!





And, then there's Nando's.  So yummy that we reordered more chicken after finishing dinner: warmly spicy food, great atmosphere, fairly reasonable prices.  What more could one want from a chain?




After a quick stop at Tesco, which had the best non-escalator ever,


we got home in time to see the poignant Doctor Who series origin film, An Adventure in Space and Time, and paint our nails blue for tomorrow's big event.


Plus, we picked up some mantel-charmers on our journeys, including Spanish Clementines!


Next ... the TARDIS, for reals!

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