A Royal Kind of Day

There wasn't much to say yesterday.  We said our goodbye's to Ireland and made our way to our new home in London for the next 6 nights.  We have a Junior Suite at St. Ermin's, but nothing as spacious as the hotels in Ireland.  It's in the Victoria neighborhood, not one we've experienced on our previous visit, but convenient to quite a few of the sights.

This being Sunday, we decided to attend Mass at the most prestigious Catholic Church in London:  Westminster Cathedral.  It is actually the "mother church of the Roman Catholic community in England and Wales".   We thought we would be treated to the Cathedral Choir but, like my choir at home, they must have the summer off.  Darn.  Instead, almost every part of the mass was sung, most in Gregorian chant, really old school but very fitting for a Cathedral that dates back to 1903.

As is typical of a cathedral,  chapels line up the sides of the building, most with exquisite mosaics and gilding.

Buckingham Palace is only open to visitors a couple of months a year, when the Queen is at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and not at 'home'.  So nice of her to let us visit.  I had booked the tickets through Viator as I've had very good experiences with them in the past.  We met our guide at the Duke of York statue up the 'mall' and had a great walk with him as he was engaging and humorous.  On Sundays the mall is open only to pedestrians so it was really nice especially on this extraordinarily warm sunny day.

This is a great shot of Big Ben peaking through St. James Park which is adjacent to the mall.  So many people out enjoying this beautiful day.

We saw about 18 of the 700 rooms in the Palace.  The audio guide also had some video and the quality was perfect.  In addition to the most gorgeous rooms ever seen, the Palace is now exhibiting gifts given to the Queen from all visiting heads of state and from those she has visited.  They are categorized by regions.  JFK's Tiffany framed photo of himself with a lovely inscription and Pres. Obama's gift of silver horse bridals were included.  It must be difficult deciding what to give the girl who has everything but most of these gifts are so intriguing and, of course, indigenous to their country or simply to honor the Queen, like the Wedgewood likeness of her or her sitting on a horse.  You get the picture.   My descriptions will have to suffice, as no photos are allowed in the Palace, as this is Elizabeth's home, after all, and they wouldn't want anyone publishing the lay of the land.  So we were told.

There is a lovely cafe on the grounds which we eagerly visited.  We settled on chocolate ice cream made from the royal cows.  It was delicious!

Of course, there is the Royal Gift Shop, an obligatory stop with the most beautiful and delicate bone china cups and tea pots I have every seen in so many pattterns.  Just lovely items.
On to the gardens.  There is a lake in the middle with two little islands, each with a bee hive tended by, who else?  The Royal Beekeeper, of course!  There are so many fauna and flowers on the grounds that these 2 hives supply all of the honey for the Palace.

A quick stop for wine and pizza and back to the hotel, having covered over 6 miles today.
We actually watched the BBC Special on Diana's 20th Anniversary.  Very surreal being in London and being at the palace today where thousands of mourners had gathered, leaving all those memorials and flowers to Diana.  Seems like yesterday, doesn't it?