Dave and I met in London to begin our holiday together. It just made more sense. He was coming from Paris on Tuesday August 2nd and we were leaving for Rome (from London) on August 3rd…so it made no sense for him to come all the way home just to turn around! I arrived first and was able to check into the hotel just fine. Online the hotel SAID it was air-conditioned…hmmm…it was…I guess…if you call a table fan air-con! Grrrrr…but at least it wasn’t a SUPER hot night…just a kinda hot night.
Since Dave had been to London for the Royal Wedding (insert major jealousy here!!!!!!) I wanted to hear all about it (not that I hadn’t a hundred times already…but since we were in LONDON I wanted him to walk me through how his day went!). Tuesday night (once Dave made his way to the hotel from the airport) we went out for a bite to eat…I have to say…I wasn’t impressed…probably the worst chips (fries) I’ve ever eaten…but it was a culinary experience nonetheless. We then walked part of the route Dave walked at the wedding and along some of the roads the happy couple rode down following their ceremony. We walked past Buckingham Palace and the Royal Mews (where they keep the cars, carriages, and horses), strolled past the church, viewed Big Ben (the name of the clock NOT the bell!) and just took in the city.
Wednesday arrived and we had tickets for a “Royal Day Out” during which we were granted access to Buckingham Palace, The Queens Gallery and the Royal Mews. We knew, given our flight time and the time needed to make it to the airport, that we wouldn’t have time to do all 3 and we really wanted to see the Palace and the Royal Mews so we opted out of the Queen’s Gallery. The Mews were fantastic! We saw super old carriages (the large gold one is only used in coronation ceremonies), stagecoaches, cars and horses. We saw the car Kate (excuse me…The Duchess Catherine) and her father rode to the wedding in and saw the carriage that Catherine and HRH William rode from the church to Buckingham in. The horses (although we only saw a few) were BEAUTIFUL! Very well groomed (obviously) and all muscle. They were eating lunch when we arrived and you could just see their muscles move as they reached for the hay and then gave it a chew. Such graceful animals.
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| This is the car that Kate and her dad road from the hotel to the church in for the wedding! |
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| This is the carriage that HRH Prince William and the Duchess Catherine road from the church to Buckingham Palace in after the wedding. |
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| I wasn't quite ready...but this is the coronation carriage! I've heard it's not that comfy!!! |
We were kinda bummed that we couldn’t take pictures once we entered the palace gates but we had a great time touring the palace. It’s breathtaking. I could not imagine rearing children there though! It was grand and beautiful and HUGE and full of antiques (well duh I guess) and had large staircases and wonderful views of gardens…but I just couldn’t picture children running (although I bet running in the palace wasn’t really looked favorably upon) or raising their voices there. I did not get the “homey” vide when we were in there. It was lovely…but not very warm and inviting. I can’t picture William running down one staircase to a landing just to jump on the banister and slide down the rest of the way; or see Harry playing Legos in the entry way to the grand hall (although that would be a wonderful location to set up a Lego village!). There’s something to be said about a home in the suburbs!
One of the highlights to the Palace tour was that we got to view Kate’s wedding dress, shoes, earrings, and tiara. We also got to see a replica of the wedding cake. The dress was beautiful and we were able to watch a film (well, I watched…Dave sat and read some history on the palace) about the making of the dress and how much thought and detail Kate put into it. She really wanted to honor England with her dress and the lace detail was a tribute to the territories that the Queen oversees. The dress display did look a little odd though as the veil and tiara were obviously set above the gown and the sleeves of the gown stuffed to show the detail…it was like a ghost at first! Eerie! But I loved it! It really was so much prettier in real life! Such a classic, beautiful dress really. I wish we could have taken photos but it was such an amazing experience just to see it! WOW! I was there! And Dave’s now seen it twice!!! Lucky man!
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