Fancy London

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Day 5—London

Today, Morgan and I skipped breakfast in order to get more sleep, which was a fantastic decision aside from the fact that we were running a bit late. We wanted to go and see the changing of the guard since they didn’t do it yesterday when we showed up. We literally RAN to the palace from the tube and when we got to the palace it. was. packed. There were police on horseback keeping people out of the road and off of the fence. We couldn’t see anything until we decided, because we are bloody brilliant, to cross to the island in the middle of the circle outside the palace where the statue of Queen Victoria and the golden angels stands. We stood and balanced very precisely on the rim of the fountain, and had a great view of all the pomp and circumstance that takes place to switch some guards around. It was a really amazing thing to see! I cannot imagine how amazing it must have been for my parents to get to see the trooping of the colors, I’m jealous of that!

Changing of the Guard
at Buckingham Palace

Once the changing of the guard was finished we walked to the left side of the castle to use our 12:30pm tickets and waited in line to get inside. We had to go through security, but we got a free audio tour and the adventure into Buckingham Palace began! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures. But trust me when I say it was incredible. The tour took us through all the staterooms, including a special exhibit called, “Royal Childhood,” that displayed toys, and outfits, and teeth, and hair, pictures and videos an much more, all memorabilia from the royal family. When we first walked into the house we went through a long hallway that was decorated in elegance, with photos of royalty and large drapes in rich colors hanging from a row of windows. The hallway ended with a porch that overlooked the square. This porch, was the original front of the house. When it was first built there was only the wing that I was standing on with two wings on either side of it both stretching forward. Now, if you go to the palace and see the front, you are actually looking at the wing that was added by Queen Victoria to hold all the staff and servants. So unless you enter the square through the archway underneath the servant’s quarters, as most dignitaries do, you will never see the true front of the palace.

Mad we couldn't smoke.
Also sorry that we
have no photos.

Once you walk off the front porch and into the front of the palace, you see the grand staircase. Everything is lined with gold and crystal and it is all pristine. At the top of the stair case (which splits halfway up and continues on both sides) there is a small room called the guard room that at one time had guards posted at all hours of the day, but now while there are no guards, it’s a room that foreshadows the beauty that is to come. And from there we moved into the green sitting room, the first of three sitting rooms. It is decorated in shades of green, very elegantly. In this room they actually had an old doll house used by Queen Elizabeth and her sister Margaret when they were young. The next room was the throne room (one of my very favorites)! The room is all in a regal hue of red. The ceiling is lined with the four crests that make up the United Kingdom; Scotland, Northern Ireland, England, and Wales. At the front of the room were pictures of Queen Elizabeth and Philip on their wedding day, as well as similar pictures of other weddings, including William and Kate’s. At the front of the room was the throne, one chair had the insignia of the Queen and the other had a P (for her husband). Both chairs were up on a small platform with a canopy overhead. It was both surreal and beautiful to stand there, and be amazed… and to just stand there. I mean geez I was looking at the Queen’s throne. I was actually there. What?? Wait, what?

Next was the gallery, a LONG hallway of famous painting that most of the world never gets to see. Its at the heart of the staterooms right in the center because the King (during the time when the palace was remodeled) was very proud of his collection. Imma be honest, Morgan and I didn’t stay there for very long. I tried to appreciate it because it was fancy London day, but if I don’t see any of the major names (Van Gogh, Picasso, and Monet), I’m pretty much ready to move on. After that was the tapestry room, I wasn’t there very long either but it was beautiful, just like everything else! After that, there were two giant ballrooms that were being used to display the entire royal childhood collection. IN the collection were bassinets, baby teeth, blankets, outfits, doll houses, bikes, trucks, dolls, height charts, school projects, paintings, and so much more. One of the more interesting things was the video of Queen Elizabeth’s “baby house.” It was an actual house where she could go inside and play, and it had all real furniture, it was just smaller. It was built at the Windsor Castle, and has been used by all the children and grandchildren since. Since people no longer dance in the ballrooms, the Queen used the larger of the two to have special ceremonies and present awards. There were some pictures of her presenting awards and there are different U.S. President’s in the pictures at her table, namely President Obama.

The next room was the blue sitting room. It was one of the prettiest rooms, in my opinion, that we saw. It had a lot of windows and natural lighting, as well as a table made with porcelain that had beautiful paintings of faces burned into the porcelain. The table had belonged to Napoleon, and it had taken 6 years to make. But it was so elegant and lovely. After that room was the royal dining room, where all of the christening parties and many of the birthday parties of royal children were held. The next room was the music room. This room was less glorified, but more naturally beautiful. From the photo where Morgan and I are standing outside in front of the backside of the palace, you can see the music room, because there is a large circle that shoots out from the wall and that is it. This is the room where several of the royals including Prince William and the Queen were christened, and also where the laced, formal, christening robes were on display. Every royal since the 1300’s has been christened in these robes (there are actually a set of newer robes that are a replica of the old ones which had gotten too fragile to be used). The last room one second floor was the white sitting room. It is very classic and has giant several giant crystal chandeliers. It is the room where the Queen most often welcomes guests into her home, and because of that she has a secret passageway or shortcut hidden very discreetly behind a bookshelf. How Scooby Doo is that? I love it.

Our FANCY meal at the Palace

We went downstairs and walked through a hallway that is parallel to the great hall and staircase that we went through on our way in. The hallway is called marble hall, and is full of statues and sculptures and portraits of different members of the royal family. Then we passed through the back sitting room on our way to the porch. As we were walking through that sitting room we saw to our right the Queen’s version of the Oval Office, except that she will traditionally only have 3 people in there at a time, and they are usually important people, prime ministers, presidents, dignitaries. It was very small and we were only allowed to look from afar, but it was also very pretty! Once we were on the porch the tour was over, but we were able to eat a delicious meal at the garden café on the back portico before walking through the back gardens on our way out! We got tea and a pastry as well as a really yummy sun dried tomato and mozzarella sandwich. We went to the bathroom that was set up near the garden café and a British woman asked “are you queuing for the lou?” I loved it, and I think it sounds so much classier than “is this the line for the bathroom?” We walked out through the massive gardens and our time at Buckingham Palace came to a close.

 

We ended up taking a break at the Wellington arch which used to be in front of Buckingham Palace. We basically passed out there for a while before we began roaming around trying to find the National Gallery to continue fancy day. We stopped to take a picture in a red photo booth that smelled like urine, barely survived that one. Once we made it to the National Gallery, where we wanted to see the impressionists and Van Gogh, we walked around and “enjoyed” the art until we found what we came to see. I got a picture in front of a Manet because I enjoy the impressionists and Mo got one in front of a Van Gogh because she likes his art as well. It was actually a really gorgeous building, and I think we went for the perfect amount of time for it to be enjoyable, keeping it short and sweet.

Morgan and I on the London Eye with Big Ben in the Background

Love me dear mum!

After we were done at the gallery we walked all the way to the London Eye. The line was very short and we got to see a 4D show for free (which was actually hilarious because we were in the back and we could see people reaching at the screen and oohing and aahing like they had never seen 3D before…maybe they hadn’t but it was still funny). The London Eye was the last thing we did in London which was cool because after all our touring and walking around we knew what and where things were and we could point them out. We went a little before sunset, which was gorgeous, but because of the glare some of our pictures aren’t so great. However, the mental snap shots I took while I was up there are breathtaking.

Me as Harry Potter with
Gryffindor scarf and
Harry's glasses!

Before ending our last day in London with Kings Cross platform 9¾ round two, we found a Chipotle. We're doing a great job eating cultural food. I got a diet coke and chips and guac, and it was delicious! I picked a can that said "Mum" on it in honor of my mama! Once we were done eating we took the tube to Kings Cross. Now do you remember last time how waiting in the line, talking to Morgan, and the whole atmosphere was magical to me? Yeah well, get that image out of your head because by this point on round two, Morgan was falling over dead from back pain and popping pills, and I was experiencing a very strange cause-less nausea and was running  in and out of the station thinking that I was about to hurl. But we did get some awesome photos that I am very proud of. And it was greaaattt to hear the photographer (who recognized us from the day before) tell us that we shouldn’t have waited in line again. That was helpful.

Me as myself, a Hufflepuff, and Morgan as a Ravenclaw

The London Eye

Now to close London I wanted to mention that I saw numerous Lamborghini’s, Maserati’s, Bentley’s, and Aston Marten’s, like literally the city was full of fancy cars…. And TONS of planes. Literally, I could rarely look at the sky without seeing at least one plane, let alone two. After I saw about 15 I started counting (which annoyed Morgan to no end, but I don’t know why, cause I thought it was a fun game). In total I counted OVER 135 planes that’s like 33.75 planes a day. She didn’t understand why it amazed me, and I don’t really understand why it amazed, I just thought it was unbelievable. 

Well anyways, we made it back to the hostel, wrote in our journals (because journaling is endless) and then went to sleep. Fancy London day, with tea and a visit to the Queen, check!