Our first stop was Westminster Abbey. It was already open when we arrived (despite us being there 20 mins before the guide book said it opened) and we received a free audio guide which was great. It was special to see the place where we watched Prince William and Kate get married. Because of the way the church is laid out, Pretty much the only people that would have been directly able to see them directly would have been members of there families. We also noted that the "room" they went into during the ceremony was not a room, just a wall with doors.
Unlike many of the other great cathedrals we have been in, Westminster has been a lot more worn down, perhaps as it is older. Many of the tiles on the floor were very worn down. There were many secret rooms on the tour which were very beautiful. The audio tour helped us find many famous tombs including: Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, and many, many other royals and royals friends.
When we finished Westminster it was around 11am do we decided to head to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. We saw the guards practicing on our way there, and heard the band warming up with Simply the Best - Tina Turner. The area outside Buckingham Palace was packed with thousands of people, as if the queen herself was going to come out (she didn't). Luckily we managed to find a spot behind a parked vehicle and could still see the guards marching. A few sets of guards marched into the front gates, and then we couldn't see them any more. I jumped up on a fence to see them, they were pretty much just marching around.
We decided to move on to the Queens Gallery. We couldn't go into Buckingham Palace because the Queen is still in London (presumably to open the Olympic games). The Queens Gallery had an exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings from 500 years ago. These drawings are incredibly accurate and way ahead of the medical knowledge of doctors at the time. He was also very close to figuring out how the heart circulates blood, which would have been an incredible breakthrough. However he did not complete his work, and his drawings where in archived for 400 years. This was a surprisingly interesting exhibition.
After a quick stop for lunch (and some cheap souvenirs) we went next door to the royal mews (the Queen's stables). Again this was better than expected. Many of the royal carriages were on display, as well as two horses and one of the massive Bentley's that the Queen travels in! The highlight of the Mews was the gold state carriage used to transport the king/queen to their coronation for the past 200-300 years. It is carved from wood and coated with gold. It weighs about 8 tonnes and is pulled by 8 horses, slowly. It doesn't fit out the doors of the room it is stored in, instead it takes the Mews staff 2 days to pull down a wall and then maneuver the carriage out a hidden door.
Next we decided to try to find Harrods. We took a number of one stop train journeys, before looking up the actual location on google. When we stepped into Harrods we were in the rich section, Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, etc. we wandered around in awe that this was all one massive shop. Even the escalators were impressive, decorated in Egyptian style.
We stumbled across a sundae bar that was so cute we had to sit down and have one. It was a fun experience but the ice cream was very average. I won't tell you how much it cost because I'm sure you will have a heart attack when you convert it to NZD!!
After a bit more looking around we found the sports section with gorgeous shoes that even I encouraged stef to buy (no picture and they are packed - but they are bright pink with bright green laces).
Our next stop was No. 10 Downing St, as we didn't have time to pass by in the morning. This was a bit disappointing as we couldn't even tell which one was the prime ministers house. We got some pictures of the heavily armed guards though. After walking up to Trafalgar Square, passing by Horse Guards Parade, we headed home for a rest and to drop our goodies off.
We met out friends from Dunedin, Claire and Andy for dinner and they took us out to a nice restaurant in Covent Garden. When we arrived it was still happy hour so I ordered a cocktail for £3.75 (double it for NZD) which was delicious. Luckily in England they use measures. In Europe they just pour the alcohol in until the glass is about 3/4 full and all you can taste is the alcohol.
After dinner we walked to Leicester Square, which was very busy, had another drink and headed home to pack our suitcases for Paris!
- Heidi xx
Photos:
Hoards of people waiting at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard
Stef with the Harrods bears
The gold state coach used for coronations
$$$ ice cream sundae at Harrods
Me at Westminster Abbey
Guards marching into Buckingham Palace
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