Now, being here, I completely understand the Brits’ obsession with the royals — I’ve caught a bit of the bug. It’s really as if they’re neighbors… instead of watching out the windows to see what’s going on, we just read the “news magazines” and local papers to keep track. Will William marry Kate? Are Charles and Camilla happy, or do they have lingering guilt? So on, and so forth. And to continue with our increasing interest (Er… my increasing interest) in the Royals, we opted to take part in the annual summer opening of Buckingham Palace. We toured the Palace on Sunday.
The tour included the Palace’s 16 (I think?) regal state rooms — adorned with the opulence of any grand showplace. We were also able to see many of the famous crowns and jewels in Queen Elizabeth’s collection as well as 60 or so evening gowns from her reign — the earliest was from the 40’s when she was just a princess and it was interesting to see the gowns spanning 6 decades as the styles and measurements changed. Much like a tour of the the White House in DC (which I’ve never done, but would assume), it’s quite intriguing to think of the many foreign dignataries, stars, and humanitarians who have roamed those halls. And many of the furnishings (within easy arms reach) were purchased by Napolean — or kings from hundreds and hundreds of years ago. It’s quite impressive.
I’m sorry to say that we weren’t able to take photos inside — we can’t share our experience, but I would definitely encourage those who, like me, are fostering a growing interest in the Royals and their lifestyles.
We also ventured out for gelato A FEW times (me twice, G once) this weekend. One of the many perks of being here. And we also roamed about Kensington Gardens (did you know that’s where Peter Pan was set? They let the grass grow long in the pasture areas of the gardens — my dad (a hobby farmer) would have been quite perplexed by all folks lying about in the tall grass… itchy!!! See photos from Kensington Gardens…
And we also did the photo scavenger hunt this weekend. It was interesting, but a challenge as we were asked to take photos of things that were (we felt) not visually stimulating — it’s difficult to take interesting photos of average things. See our photos and clues within the Photo Scavenger Hunt album…