We started the day put at All Bar One, which had a variety of breakfasts I have never seen before. I decided to go for huevos rancheros, which featured beans, avocado and tortillas. Things I wouldn't normally associate with breakfast items, but it was delicious and it kept me full for a long time. Obviously I also had two shots of Smarties, I was very happy with that. During breakfast we were trying to figure out what I wanted to see, and I wanted to go see Buckingham Palace because I'd been so close yesterday.
So we caught the underground to Green Park, walked through the park and arrived at Buckingham Palace which was ready to get overrun by the massive crowd of people outside. One should almost believe that something was happening. There were so many people and a massive number of police. Even NBC was there, but nothing actually happened. That I know of. We walked past Buckingham Palace as neither of us really wanted to join the masses of nothingness.
We walked into St. James Park as the new destination was Trafalgar Square and Westminster. We decided on going to Westminster first, and I got to see Big Ben relatively close up. I also saw Parliament, and I saw Westminster Abbey, which means that I have now seen the only to churches in the United Kingdom that has ever seen a coronation. I mentioned this from my trip to Stirling (link).
After Westminster we backtracked a bit and walked up to Trafalgar Square, first passing by the Horse Guards Parade where we got to witness half a change. The horses are well cared for, they're beautiful and everything on them and the guards are shiny down to the last strap. Even the fur is shiny.
On Trafalgar Square is a big statue of Lord Nelson. Actually, I don't know if it's big or not, but the column that is is raised up on it tall, so I assume that the statue is relatively big. However, he was not as interesting as the giant lions are. They're beautiful.
All is seemingly okay there, and the National Gallery is in impressive building, but what is weird about the square is not the George IV statue in the right corner of the square, but rather the curious statue of horse skeleton that decorates the left corner of the square. I can't really make sense of that, but I guess it's just art?
On the way back from Trafalgar Square we went past Downing Street, which was a disappointment. I guess it's not what I had seen in movies, and I hadn't expected it to be that heavily guarded (and armed), so I just took some pictures and we went on from there.
We backtracked through St. James Park, up close to a now empty Buckingham Palace and through the Mall, up through Green Park and walked a little along Constitution Hill. Here we saw a memorial from the WWI and a memorial commemorating the aviators and bombers from WWII.
Of course there was a quote by Churchill here, anything else would have been off by miles. The memorial is called Bomber Command Memorial and does not only commemorate the bombers of the United Kingdom, but all the others vital to the victory. "The fighters are our salvation, but the bombers alone provide the means of victory."
Walking through Wellington Arch we set pace towards Hyde Park and Princess Diana's Memorial. We actually had set out for the playgrounds in the beginning, and in the middle of our stroll we saw a beautiful fountain, dedicated to Diana.
It is beautiful, marvelous, and the current of the fountain is never the same. As having never known the impact Diana had on the world, but still has managed to watch movies and listen to people talk about her, I felt the creators of the fountain has managed to capture her compassion, beauty and ever-changing personality. It is impossible with Diana to not feel as though the world was robbed of her beautiful being too soon.
After having appreciated the fountain and walked along it we set out for Kensington Gardens and palace. We walked through all of Hyde Park and on the way to Kensington also managed to go past the Memorial Playground, although admittedly only kids and parents were let in there, so we just watched from the outside.
We had afternoon tea at Kensington Palace. I had a Victoria sponge cake because I felt like I had to. When in Britain, you know... So we actually decided to go into Kensington Palace, the first, and probably last, castle/palace I have visited during my stay. It is highly recommendable. They had an exhibition about Queen Victoria. I have heard quite a lot about her and her love for Scotland, but I had not imagined I would come to the understanding of her that I consequently have from visiting "Victoria Revealed". Queen Victoria was the longest reigning queen in the United Kingdom, only this September will Queen Elizabeth II surpass her.
Victoria came to power early, and she was married to Albert. Together they had nine kids, five girls and four boys. And she was beautiful as a young girl, she definitely was a very beautiful young women. But she aged with time, and nine kids does take its toll on the body. When Albert died, she never changed out of her mourning clothes, and claimed "my life as a happy one is over! the world is gone for me!" No doubt that Queen Victoria left a bit of a legacy.
After having seen that exhibition we walked into the Queen's chambers where Mary II and William essentially had lived. Initially, Queen Mary II and king William were double regents, meaning they were the first and last couple to share the power. They bought Kensington Palace. Queen Mary II died from smallpox at age 32. The halls in which she lived is magnificent, and I cannot help but feel blessed to have walked there myself.
Before walking into the halls we were introduced to an intricate, and not easily understood, family tree. I had been talking about the Boleyn sisters for quite some time.
There is a lot of Mary's and Anne's in the history of British Monarchy, so please do yourself the favor of not getting them confused. There are as about as many houses as there are Mary's and Anne's, and again. They are not the same. The Boleyn sister belong with Henry VIII of House of Tudor.
Queen Mary II and king William belong to House of Stuart. Already then I probably should have connected the dots, as I know about house Stuart. Elizabeth I belonged to House of Tudor, but she had a sister, Mary Queen of Scots (link). Mary Queen of Scots could no longer reign in Scotland and was exiled to England where she upon crossing the border was immediately detained and for several years moved around from castle to castle. In Scotland, her son, James VI of Scotland was now reigning.
However, Elizabeth I was not able to bear children and claimed she was "married to her country" and never to a husband either. However, it was generally feared that one day Mary Queen of Scots would take over the throne, as proven she had a child, and Elizabeth I was pressured into ordering her beheading. Eventually it was "off with her head", and Mary Queen of Scots was no more. So when Elizabeth I years later died, childless, there was no one to reign the country.
As said, Mary Queen of Scots had had a son who was now ruling in Scotland. He became James VI of Scotland and I of England, the first king to rule over both Scotland and England. And with him came the beginning of House of Stuart. See, Mary Queen of Scots is known under another name as well: Mary Stuart.
The lineage of this house is complicated and twisted and tweaked underneath religion. Catholicism and Protestantism, and you could not be a catholic ruler in a protestant country, so if the next on the list was a catholic, eventually they'd go through the list to find a protestant.
However, between the years 1649 and 1660 a civil war ensured, and there were no rulers at that point. In 1660 King Charles II took rule for a couple of years, until in 1685 his younger brother ended up taking the throne for three years. In 1689 Queen Mary II and king William III took the throne as the double rulers. They had signed a document in which it stated that once one of them died that would be the end of double monarchy, and it was expected that Mary would outlive William, however, he outlived her by quite some years, finally dying in 1702, relinquishing the throne to Queen Anne, the child of king James II. Anne ruled till 1714, from which George I took over. His reign ended in 1727, from when the history of House of Stuart also ended.
Then the House of Hanover story started out, but at some point in history people got tired of associating of House Hanover with bad things (bombs), and there was called upon another renaming. The name House of Windsor was then made, claiming that when thinking of Windsor, one's thoughts automatically went to the royal family. The royal family is to this day still known under House of Windsor.
After this little tour we walked into fashion through times and saw some of the beautiful dressed. Finally, we ended up in the King's Chambers, enjoying the beauty of it all. The palace closed at 6 pm, which was approximately when we went out after having spent 1½ walking around inside.
We then went back to the hotel.
Later we went out for dinner and walked a bit along Leicester Street, and it's pronounced "Lester" Street, not the other way around although the word doesn't give you many hints as to how to pronounce it...
I saw a hippodrome and asked if there was hippos in there. I was told there was not, which is false advertising frankly. I don't care that it's a theater, but if I come to a hippodrome I would expect there to be hippos. Anything else would be disappointing, really.
I realize this is a very long entry, but there are so many stories...
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