The Enchanted Palace at Kensington Palace

When I arrived at Kensington Palace, there were no lineups. There was no one inside, except two staff members inside the entrance room for admissions. It was early in the afternoon, and attractions in London are always full of people. I was really suspicious, but I had such an enjoyable time at Buckingham Palace, that I didn’t really think I wouldn’t have good time inside Kensington Palace. While I was about to pay my admission fee of £12.50, and group of visitors entered, and I realized they were Canadians too. Hmmmmm… no locals, and no Europeans, there must be something really wrong here!
So, I paid my admission fee, and I got a booklet, which resembles something from an elementary school childrens’ challenge of some sort. There’s a game to this tour of Kensington Palace, and it came with a pencil too! Find the name of the princesses, who used to live inside Kensington Palace! There was a staff member who told me that a prize will be given if you find all of the names. It will be a sticker! Honestly, I came here to learn about Kensington Palace, and I didn’t just want to learn about the names of the princesses who lived here.
I went upstairs and I realized that the place looked ghetto! Yeah, I guess they wanted to attract a different crowd, and there was graffiti all over the walls near the entance on the first floor. It also looked like they really need to paint some parts of the walls too. Not classy at all. Up to this point, there were no one else inside except myself and my family members. We’re talking about a world famous attraction here!
After passing through the ghetto-​like graffiti entrance, I arrived to an area with many rooms. All of the rooms were dark with miminal lighting. Each room has a childen’s storybook theme to it — The Room of Royal Sorrows Yeah, silly, eh? I was expecting to see some truly historic British interiors chosen by the Royal Family. Sadly, each of the rooms looked they were preparing for a new Harry Potter movie to be filmed here, or should I just say, more like a haunted house.
One large room had thousands of tiny plastic toy soldiers and other children’s toys on the ground. I guess they wanted to attract kids to go here. All of the rooms had coloured fluorescent lighting which looked like it was borrowed from a high school musical set. A few of the rooms have dresses designed by modern day designers such as Vivienne Westwood. I couldn’t even get close to appreciate the details, but I could see the same thing if I went to the Vivienne Westwood store in London.
I asked a staff member about the wacky furniture and decorations. She told me that «Kensington Palace is under landscaping and building work outside the Palace.» She also said, «All of the work done outside causes vibrations that will damage furniture inside, so all of the original furniture has been moved out.» Apparently, the construction project will be completed by June 2012. All of the furniture are NOT from the Royal Family and they are something you’ll find at a Sunday Market on the streets.
Most of the rooms are so dark, that you really need a flashlight to see anything. I discovered that if a room has little no nothing inside, it would be really dark!
At the end of the tour, I received a sticker for finding all of the princesses names! I realized that this is the biggest tourist trap in London. It seemed like Canadians, like myself, fell for this sad tourist trap. On the bright side, staff members were friendly and they’re willing to answer questions.