London Calling

On Friday we had to get up and be on the train to London at the ungodly hour of 4:50 am. Unfortunately all the other trains that day were full so that was the only option. The good part about it was that we arrived in London at 8:30 am and had the whole day to play tourist.

I think the guards got tired of all the idiot tourists bugging them because they are now stationed behind the giant gate and no longer sit out front

First up was a trip to Buckingham Palace. Kevin, and I had been to London recently, and Mumsy not so recently, but none of us had been able to tour the Palace. When the Queen is in residence, the palace is closed to visitors, but the state rooms open for the last month of summer when she is off visiting one of her many other palaces around Europe. No photos were allowed inside the palace, but to get an idea of the sheer opulence of it all, I’ve included a few canned photos.

Apparently, the palace was originally built for the Duke of Buckingham as a townhouse outside the hustle and bustle of London. George III acquired it in 1761 as a house for his wife, Queen Charlotte. It was enlarged in the 19th century by John Nash, an architect famous for his set design which accounts for the theatrical quality to it. When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, it became the official residence of the royal family.

We got to view 19 state rooms out of a total 775 rooms. I’d love to place Hide and Seek in a place that big. However, I’d be afraid to touch anything. I have to say that my favorite part was an exhibit commemorating Queen Elizabeth II’s Commonwealth tour of the 50’s and 60’s. While the footage of her trip and gifts she received were fascinating, the best part for me as an aspiring Vintage Clothing collector were the dresses. We think of the Queen now as a seriously dowdy old lady, but she was really a stylish bird back in the day. Once again, I couldn’t take pictures, but here are some canned images of some of my favorite pieces that any one of the Trifecta would kill to wear.

1961 Evening Gown by Hardy Amies

1967 Evening Gown by Norman Hartnell

1972 Evening Gown by Norman Hartnell

Once we exited the palace, we took a walk through the palace gardens (the largest private gardens in London) where we walked among the plants, water and fat pigeons. Seriously, these things were the fattest pigeons I had ever seen. Apparently, not only the Royals live a cushy life in England.

At this point in the day, we were pretty tired since we had to get up at 3:30 AM, so we decided to retire to the hotel until our High Tea was ready (YUM!). The hotel was running a special to coincide with the palace being open for visitors were High Tea was free, so of course Mumsy decided to stay at this hotel. The high tea included a variety of teas (NOT prepared correctly according to Mumsy but still good), scones with fresh unpasturized clotted cream and homemade jam, and a variety of tea sandwiches (including cucumber sandwiches which really are NOT that good since they taste like cucumbers on crustless bread with butter), and a variety of biscuits.

After we stuffed ourselves silly, we decided to take the Tube down to the Westminster area and check out the sites. Immediately upon exiting the Tube, we were greeted with the sites of Big Ben, Parliment, Westminster Abbey, and the exhibit that Don and I (being afraid of heights) dreaded the most: The London Eye

Situated on the Thames (that’s pronounced Temes. Kevin’s UK friends find the fact that we live in New London on the THames very amusing), the London Eye rotates its guests to a height of 135 meters, affording great views over the Thames. As much as I hate heights (right Cailin?) the experience was awesome and really didn’t bother me that much as we were enclosed quite safely in a ski chalet type bubble.

After our ride, we decided to take some time taking many MANY pictures of Parliment, Westminster and Big Ben before heading back to bed after a long day.

Hey Look Kids, Big Ben!

Old Ironsides in the courtyard of Parliment