They had a long day today! Away by 9am and back to the hotel by 5.30! The day included tea at Buck House and a visit to the south bank and well over 10 miles of walking!
Linda had wanted to go back to Buckingham Palace - and they thought if they got their early they would get straight in! Well, they walked from the hotel to the Palace and got tickets for the 10am tour. They queued for their tickets - £19 each and Queenie wasn't even there! They were not allowed to wait where the entry to the palace was so they went back round to the top of The Mall. I got my photo taken by the front of the palace while they waited! So...eventually it was time to enter! You enter by a series of marquees round by the side of the palace front. Of course.....you have to go through the airport style security and through the metal detector! No mobiles allowed on, no cameras out and NO photos until after you are out and into the gardens at the rear!
They took the audio headsets this time - and they said it could take 2 hours if you really took your time! They did the state room tour! You start at the great entry all, visit a range of state rooms, the gallery and the investiture room. Each rom is different and is extremely opulent as you would expect! If anything the roof of each room was as much interest than the rest of the room. Each had very intricate plaster work with elaborately painted patterns in gold and a myriad of other colours.
Additional exhibits were on show to tie in with Queenies Diamond Jubilee. You saw the dresses and costumes worn at the coronation, a selection of the jewellery and crowns worn by the peers and even the outfits worn by Prince Charles and Princess Anne as children.
By the end of the 19 rooms you file through you end up out in the back garden. Here they have set up a rather plush cafe on the palace terrace and charge ridiculous prices for a cup of tea or coffee in a paper cup! But, you have to do it!
Then....oh yes.....the shop! You can't leave without going to the shop! Every bit of Royal tat you cold think of...including a range of bears in costume! How ridiculous!
After getting one or two Christmas Presents they were off again! They trailed through Belgravia and Knightsbridge and up Sloane Sreetvon their way to Harrods! You could spot all the well heeled people wandering about and the streets were full of Jags, Rollers, Bentleys and even a number of Aston Martins!! (Porsche's did not even make the list as there were so many!) In one car showroom hidden in the middle of KnIghtsbridge among the Bentleys and Rollers was a Bugati Veyron! He was keen to go in and ask how much it would be with a trade in and if they could test drive it....but Linda just pulled him off!
So.....round Harrods and they thought they would buy some fruit salad for lunch to eat in Hyde Park - well, they won't do that again!
After a bit of a rest in the park they were off again on their travels! Out of the park and through Green Park to the palace once more and then down the Mall and into St James Park and through to Horse Guards! Andrew thought Linda was going to have a fit when they bought a small cone with a flake and got no more than a small squirt of ice-cream on the cone! This did not go down well.....well it did.....but they wanted more for their money!
From Horse Guards it was off along Whitehall to Parliament and then across Westminster Bridge to the South Bank! After eventually getting a toilet in MacD's beside The Eye they continued down the south bank to the Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge! On their way down their they bumped into a lady who had been on their bus tour to California last year! They chased after her and after an awkward conversation for 5 minutes they were off once again!
The Millennium Bridge was interesting and we shoogled our way across! I got my photo taken with The Shard in the background! Then it was off the bridge and up to St Paul's! They continued right along The Strand and Fleet Street, via Temple Church which featured in The Davinci Code, to Leicester Square, Covent Garden and then Piccadilly Circus! From there it was up Regent Street to Oxford Street and back to the hotel! They have sore feet tonight and I have a sore back! Well, you imagine being bent double in a camera bag all day!
Tonight it will be out for a meal and another walk about! Tomorrow? Well, they are not sure! It might be Olympic Park and the Westfield Shopping Centre!
So....check out my photos soon from today!
Ted!!
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment