Notting Hill & the Kyoto Gardens

Sunday afternoon, we all found ourselves in need of getting out of East London and into the Western part of the city, itching for some London culture. We decided to check out the Japanese gardens in Holland Park, situated in the beautiful (and expensive) neighborhood of Notting Hill.

Notting Hill has got to be my favorite neighborhood in London. It's residential, but also home to tons of delicious cafe's, quaint book stores, and other cute shops.

We strolled down the wide streets into Holland Park and made our way over to the Kyoto Gardens, built in 1991 and donated by the Chamber of Commerce of Kyoto, Japan. 

We were totally surprised to see the dozen or so gorgeous peacocks who call the Kyoto Garden their home! They waddled about, completely comfortable with the humans milling around admiring their bright plumage, only interested in chasing around one another.

They turned their beaks up against human food.

After enjoying our lunches in the park, we made our way back out into Notting Hill to poke around in a bookstore and settling into a cafe for afternoon pick-me-ups. Sadly, as we all had work to get done, we had to say goodbye to Notting Hill after and return to our flats to put our noses to the books.