The two walks today wove in and out of residential and commercial areas. The morning walk was "Old Mayfair" and mainly focused on Blue Plaque buildings of historical interest. Highlights shown below included a park with the oldest trees in London and the building where the Queen was born (now a Bentley dealership).
The Kensington "Royal Village" walk combined history with location. It was nice to walk around and be away from the traffic.
I learned a few things on the walk about the origin of the word Mews and construction of buildings after the Great Fire of 1666 to limit fire hazards. At the time insurance could be purchased for a local fire company to come to your aid. The different companies had logos placed on the houses and they only put out the fires for the companies they represented.
The Mews are now residential areas that once had horse stables. The stables spread across town after a fire burned down the Royal stables in an earlier age. Most of the horses survived and needed a place to stay. At first they were housed in buildings used for falcons when they lose their feathers. The sound the falcons made as they molted was described as a "mew." So it came to be that the word mews became interchangeable with stables and spread into popular use. Or so the story goes...
The walk eventually made it to Kensington Palace. I will visit the Palace tomorrow.
In the evening I went to a a production of the musical Oklahoma. This reimagined production was enjoyable. I forgot how fun the music was and the silliness of the actors. The first half was best. The production included live music including blues guitars, modern dance and video scenes done live in the dark with handheld cameras and projected on a wall for the audience.
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