 |
| Buckingham Palace |
Finally! No rain and we get to go sightseeing some more! Our trip this time is to Buckingham palace. We didn’t realize until the day was almost gone on how much standing and walking this tour would be.
 |
| The main area of the horse guards parade. Notice the London Eye in the background. |
I don’t know how these old people do it. We left the house at 7:30 a.m. to catch a train to London for our 10:15 gathering.
 |
| The mounted horse guards arriving |
We arrived in London around 8:30 so we stopped to have a leisurely breakfast, allowing us at least an hour to walk to the meeting point.
We stopped at Starbucks for breakfast and coffee. The trip to our meeting point was a few miles away so it was good to eat and “walk it off”.
 |
| Standing at attention! |
Our tour started on time. We were here to see the changing of the guard and the Buckingham palace tour.
 |
| All the horses must be black or very dark brown. |
Several questioned the changing of the guard and the tour guide phrased it in a way that left us uncertain as to whether we would see it or not.
 |
| Moving into position |
As it turns out, there is a mounted guard, which is what we saw part of, by accident, last week when walking through. This time, we saw the full change.
It was fun to watch and glad we didn’t miss it. However, we didn’t see the foot soldiers and the band and I still cant find anyone that can tell me why we weren’t able to see it on this day.
 |
| Someone must have told a joke! |
Our tickets clearly stated it but the descriptions on the Internet say that at any time this could change, so maybe this was one of those times.
 |
| St. James palace clock tower |
I was a little bummed, however the horse cavalry was really nice too. Our guide took us through the St. James Palace area. This is the most senior royal palace in the United Kingdom.
 |
| Buildings along St. James Palace |
Located in the City of Westminster, although no longer the principal residence of the monarch, it is the ceremonial meeting place of the Accession Council (where one monarch is replaced by another on the throne, which should be Prince Charles) and the London residence of several minor members of the royal family.
 |
| Buildings along St. James Palace |
Many of the parades begin here as well. At 11:30 (remember, we started around 10:15-10-30) we made it to Buckingham palace for our tour.
 |
| I loved this little alley way with the flowers around St. James palace |
It was a very busy day. Sooo many people in line. Our mistake was going on a Saturday. We changed our plans due to the weather after changing previously due to our short trip to Virginia.
 |
| Entrance gates to the Palace |
Oh well. It probably would have been just as crowded. Our (or my) expectation was to learn about the palace, its history and hear more about the royal family.
 |
| A pond along the route to the palace |
What we experienced was everything except about the “current” royal family. I’m not sure why I expected more about Queen Elizabeth and not Queen Victoria but soon learned that this year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria, so that explains a lot!
 |
| Front of the Palace gates |
Many of the current furnishings on display were from Queen Victorias reign and not the current monarchy.
 |
| Queen Victoria memorial at the entrance to Buckingham Palace |
For example, some of the thrones in place were very worn and tattered but it was the originals from Queen Victoria.
Buckingham Palace contains a lot of rooms! A total of 775 to be exact. This includes 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, 52 guest and royal bedrooms, 19 State Rooms, and 78 bathrooms. 78 bathrooms? I don’t think thats enough with 250 total bedrooms, assuming they are all full!
 |
| Gardens along the path to the side of the palace |
Oh, and no photos allowed inside so I’ll do what I can to explain and maybe try to include a stock photo from the internet.
 |
| Memorial Gardens at the Front Entrance |
Every room had as much gold as possible in every detail and the red royal colored drapes brought out the colors. I whispered to Chuck that it reminded me a little of Elvis with all the red velvet type drapes.
 |
| Stock Photo – White Drawing Room |
As described in many publications, perhaps the grandest of all the State Rooms in Buckingham Palace, is the White Drawing Room. It is often used for audiences with the monarch and small gatherings. Ahead of larger events, the room is used for key guests to be presented to the Queen before everyone heads into a bigger State Room to mingle. It had a tall white ceiling and the walls were white with gold inlay. There were two sets of double mirrored doors. They called it an escape route to disappear from the guests.
 |
| Stock Photo – Grand Staircase |
There is a grand staircase that winds up through paintings of Queen Victoria and her husband, King Albert. At the top of the stair case is the sculpture of Perseus and Medusa. The sculpture is of Perseus standing victorious on the body of Medusa, holding her head aloft in his left hand, his sword in his right. A little gory.
 |
| Stock Photo – Red Throne Room |
The Red Throne room was exactly that. All RED. The chairs and rugs and walls were all royal red with some white and gold. It was very palace like. It has two thrones, one for the reigning Queen Elizabeth and another for the monarch’s consort, Prince Philip. The throne is placed under a red canopy and is set atop a three step pedestal.
 |
| Stock Photo – Picture Gallery |
By the time we reached the picture gallery, we were very excited to see some benches to sit on. We were almost at our limit for the day!
 |
| Stock Photo – The Ballroom |
The ballroom was amazing. Each drop in the chandeliers were hand made. So beautiful! The room was huge to allow for quite a bit of gathering and dancing. It is said that Queen Victoria loved music and had the the acoustics designed to perfection.
 |
| Stock photo – Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship. Twelve were produced and only 10 exist today. |
There were many unique vases on display some very rare with only a few left.
After we finished the tour, it dropped us into the palace garden. At face value, it looked like a beautiful green back yard but you have to add the garden tour to see the rest of the garden, tennis courts and the enormous Waterloo vase, which was not on our agenda.
 |
| Stock Photo – Waterloo vase in the garden |
The palace garden is used for garden summer entertaining by the Queen so we can always say we were in the Queens backyard!
We experienced quite a bit from this amazing tour about how Queen Victoria began the creation and design of the palace and much of it is used the same today.
 |
| We are in the Queens backyard! |
I am glad we attended although it appeared it was all about Queen Victoria, we have to remember that she set the stage for all other Royals so maybe I shouldn’t be disappointed in not hearing all about what Queen Elizabeth does because she does it the way Queen Victoria designed.
 |
| Since I wasn’t sure how I would explain our trip, I took a lot of photos outside and inside the gift shop. |
 |
| Much of the gift shop contents were bright and colorful. Lots of chocolate and china! |
We made it home around 6 pm after stopping for a good burger at a pub close to the apartment because we were just too tired to cook! It was definitely a well-done burger. I told Chuck it was Texas style!
 |
| The Buckingham Palace gardens. Large green area used for entertaining. |
We are off to Brighton beach tomorrow. Looking forward to a relaxing day!
 |
| I thought the electric barbed fencing all around the palace grounds was interesting |
May God bless you always!
Chuck & Lea Ann
WorldTravelReynolds 