Like Christopher Robin, We Went Down to Buckingham Palace...

Today was the day!  Iris was excited.  Maybe she would see the Queen.  While we assured her the Queen was not in residence, she was still quite optimistic!  And we all, in the perpetual rain, made our way to our 10 a.m. entry to Buckingham Palace for our tour.  And what a tour it was.  Despite the buckets of water coming from the skies, we wandered through all the public rooms, not the area the Royal Family lives in.

And the majesty of it all was evident.  I, on the other hand,  was annoyed with all the crowds.  And they "crowds" were from all over the world, talking in all sorts of different languages.  We were shoved through from the Japanese, the Chinese, the Italians, the Middle Easterners.  It was sort of like n unending wave of people and you just had to go with the flow, so to speak.  The banquet rooms (yes, more than one) with thrones for the Queen and Prince watching their guests eat; the music rooms, the ball rooms, the portrait rooms, the art galleries.  There were plenty of chandeliers, Sevres vases and dishes, gold place settings, tapestries -- and lots of Royal guards.  In fact, we had to wait an hour at noon while the guards had their change for the afternoon and no one could leave the grounds until it was all over.s'

This was enough for Bos and me.  So we went back to the hotel to collapse while the Greensboro crew decided to go to the London Eye -- in the rain, sheets of rain persisting!  And their story was disappointing.  Their taxi dropped them off with a wave of the driver's hand who assured them, with the protests in front of the Parliament, they could walk -- in that horrid rain -- to the Eye.  So they trudged, soaking wet, for about a mile to finally get to the Eye -- where the skies were so cloudy they couldn't see the sights over London.

To get back to the hotel they had to sit in a taxi for over an hour while the driver was caught in that protest march.  But they did get back for Iris's "Tea", a very important event.  And, with the plethora of food, including champagne, it turned out this was our supper!!  What a delicious way to end a day!

Tomorrow it is the Tower of London private tour before it opens to the public.  I've been there 3 times before, so I am planning on yawning and rolling over, while the rest get up so early and I can relax.  More tomorrow!!