Back on the tube at 9.30am this morning and in the queue to buy tickets for the State rooms at Buckingham Palace by 10am. One and a bit hours later we finally got to the front of the queue and purchased our tickets in about one minute flat – what takes everyone else so long???? We had time to go and find something to eat and drink and a toilet before our twelve o’clock entry. Although there were so many people and there was a fair amount of shuffling along and feeling like sheep it was well worth the money and the crowds to wander through the state rooms of the Palace. Saw the quadrangle and the main covered entry point into the staterooms where the carriages pull up and then walked through all the grand drawing rooms, dining rooms and reception rooms. Certainly very splendid and tasteful and all the floors are covered with beautiful carpets. One wonders whether they are replaced at the end of every tourist season as they are tramped over by thousands of pairs every day but they certainly haven’t cut any corners with providing luxurious floor coverings although I noted that various gilded doors and staircases had Perspex coverings which presumably are removed the rest of the year.
Ended the visit by stepping through the same passages as those who arrive for the famous garden parties and out to the rear garden (garden? 30 acres!). Could just imagine the Queen stepping out with the corgis to let them stretch their legs on the vast area of lawn – barricaded off from us mere mortals but we were allowed to wander along the garden path past the lakes filled with water fowl. Today is an absolutely beautiful blue sunny day with a maximum of about 27 degrees so it was a very pleasant stroll and a pocket of peace and tranquillity in the midst of the busy city. We eventually headed back out into the real world and cut through Belgravia (okay, not quite the real world) to Harrod’s. We were starting to think it might be about lunchtime and were convinced of it whilst walking through the foodhall where they had the most scrumptious looking roast beef sandwiches for sale. Grabbed one of those each and headed back outside to devour them then back inside for a wander through the departments of Harrod’s that appealed such as the pet, toy and sports sections. Also had a wander through the children’s international fashion section but Kate and Chloe missed out as we couldn’t quite afford the 300GBP Dolce and Gabana handbags for girls. L
Harrod’s is undergoing upgrades and renovations (as is the rest of London in preparation for next year’s Olympics) so the Chocolate Cafe was closed which was probably a good thing as it meant a) we will still be able to fit into our clothes tomorrow and b) we were forced to push on and walk down the road to the Natural History Museum. Not that pleasant a walk actually as it was HOT by then and the sun was right in our faces so grateful to disappear into the cool and dark depths of the museum. Headed straight for the dinosaur exhibit which is a great mix of skeletons, fossils and animatronic dinosaurs. The T Rex still manages to eye you off as you walk past like he wants to take your head off – remember it frightening the heck out of Kate when she was 3. Then made our way over to the Earth wing – love riding the giant escalator up through the model of the earth with the molten core.
Could feel our feet starting to get pretty sore so up Exhibition Road to Hyde Park where we sat on the grass and enjoyed the sunshine and watching all the people ‘mucking about in boats’ on the Serpentine. A few girls trotted past on their ponies along Rotten Row but none of them thought to offer me a ride (didn’t they know how tired my feet were?!!). Eventually decided we weren’t going to magically teleport back to G&J’s so staggered over to Kensington tube station and caught the train back to Bermondsey. Just enough energy to get back to the house with a quick stop off at Tesco’s for milk and cider (the two essentials of life) and then collapsed on the couch. Jeremy arrived home shortly after us and we had a BBQ to celebrate the summery weather. Glen arrived home about 9pm having done one of his long days (has to fit 5 days of work into 4) and we knocked off the rest of the meringue and icecream.
No comments:
Post a Comment