London Day 2

William at Exit of Buckingham PalaceWilliam at back lawn of Buckingham Palace

Me in the Rose Garden in Hyde Park

Top of the Wellington Arch

William in the Rose Garden at Hyde Park

9/27/07

Today we rode the Big Bus again to get the rest of our 24 hours. We arrived for a tour at Buckingham Palace. The Queen has house tours of a bit of the downstairs when she is off for summer vacation in Scotland. She decided to stay a few days longer this year so we had an opportunity to take the tour. Buckingham Palace is quite amazing. It has over 500 rooms and 79 bathrooms. It is said that the Queen has not been in all the rooms and she has lived here as Queen since 1952. This is an old house that has been remodeled and enlarged over the years. The style and grandeur of the public rooms we toured reminded me of the mansions we toured in Newport, RI. Tons of gild and curved ceiling decorations, gilded chairs and couches upholstered in bright satins, statues and paintings and everything done and overdone. The Queen has a secret door from her quarters that she can use to make an entrance for state functions. There was a special display of her wedding 60 years ago this November. Her wedding dress has held up better than mine. We didn’t get to see one of the Queen’s loos.

We walked to Hyde Park and through the park and Kensington Gardens back to the hotel and then out to dinner at a slightly more upscale place, The Spice of India.