Buckingham Palace tour & the Proms

OK, I'll admit this from the start....I am back-dating this post a few days (ok more than a week) to when we to London to the Proms and to Buckingham Palace. I know, it's cheating, but it's been a busy 2 weeks and I am just now catching up (Friday afternoon at work, after we had wine at lunch for my boss's going away lunch).

Anyhooooo, I went in to London the Friday afternoon and met up with Kent for a happy hour after work with his Oxford classmates who are also working at Hamilton Bradshaw. We ducked out of happy hour early to get some sushi (there is none in Oxford!) and then on to the BBC Proms. No, we didn't go to a prom....but rather the "world's gretest classical music festival" held at at the gorgeous Royal Albert Hall. It was like going to the symphony times 10! The theater was so pretty- even way up in the nosebleed section the sound was great. Each night for about two months there is a different classical music performance. We saw the Scottish Chamber Orchestra perform Schumann and Mendelssohn. It was a really nice event, for not too expensive! Then we headed over to meet up with some friends at a nice bar in Kensington, not too far from the symphony.

On to Saturday....
When Mom and Dad were here last month, they went to visit Buckingham Palace, but you can only tour the Royal Mews (stables, carriages, cars) and the Queen's Gallery (art collection) during most of the year. But, for 6 weeks of the year when the Queen takes her summer holiday to Windsor Palace, they open up the State Rooms to tourists. Yep, we are tourists! Mom and dad bought tickets for Kent and I to tour all three areas of the Palace....and we are so glad they did!! Otherwise, we may not have gone to tour the home of the Queen. Most British people I have told about the tour haven't even been inside the State Rooms.

We had a leisurely breakfast at our hotel (in Belgravia) and walked up Buckingham Palace Road to find a huge crowd of tourists - all waiting to see the changing of the guard! We stood round for a few minutes and decided we should join our tour to the Queen's Gallery, as our tickets stated 11:30, the same time as the changing of the guard. I'm not huge on art galleries, but this one was really great! They give you a headset with an audio tour that you can skip around to the piece you are looking at. The French Porcelain for English Palaces: Sèvres from the Royal Collection was actually really cool - as were the famous paintings. The highlight though (for me at least) were a set of earrings and a broach given to the Queen by her mother -- a ridiculously big 93+ carat broach and earrings totalling 65+ carats!! They were gorgeous! Part of an "accidentally discovered" diamond in South Africa. The PM of South Africa gave peices of this diamond to Queen Victoria! (the total diamond weighed 3,106 carats, making it the largest ever gem-quality rough diamond to be discovered in the world).

Next we headed over to the Royal Mews, where all transporation needs of the Mnoarchy are taken care of. We saw Bentleys & Rolls limos and the more traditional carriages and even saw a few real live horses. :) Again, the audio tour was really good.

On to the grand finale - the State Rooms. We met up with about 10x more tourists and slowly made our way through the brightly color, gold-gilded, perfectly maintained rooms of the Queen's residence. It really was an amazing site. They wouldn't let you take pictures inside, so here are a few photos from my friend Google.

Thank you to mom and dad for the tickets - we had a fantasic time touring the palace! It really was beautiful!!