Buckingham Palace

Well our final day in London has arrived! The weather has held out and we've had another glorious day! We had originally planned to visit the Natural History Museum this morning, but realised after how little of the science museum we got to see that it wasn't worth trying to go for a couple of hours, so we had a restful morning and then decided to have a look round Surrey Quays mall (and begin the search for me trying to find a map of London) before heading out to our Buckingham Palace booking for 1.30 pm. We couldn't find a map or a bookstore in the mall but we managed to kill some time, and then we arrived out at the palace about 1 pm to find that it was the epicentre for the Ride London Cycle event!

                       

We started with the Queen's Gallery which had a traditional coffee shop set up, and some portrait galleries.

                

                         

There were also displays of old painted battle plans which were amazing and really beautiful.

  

                    Then some displays of painted china and gold tableware:

                            

           

And finally there were some beautiful books on display:

           

Next we entered the Royal Mews with all the carriages and horses, which is what I had been looking forward to most. It was neat, but in all honesty the State Rooms ended up being my favourite.

This beauty was called Mary Tudor and took a great interest in her visitors :)

We were not allowed to take any photos as we toured the 19 State Rooms however that just gave us more time to gape in wonder. I have never seen so much gold in my life, it was completely surreal. The walls, staircases, every pattern on the ceiling, the picture frames - everything was gold. Everything else was draped in pinks or reds and looked very regal. It was not difficult to imagine important foreign presidents being welcomed inside! I would have uploaded a picture from the internet, but they simply do not do the rooms or experience justice.

We ended the day with the most expensive Burger King meal I have ever encountered - twice the price of NZ!!! And then packed up most of our stuff ready for our departure from London to Bath Spa tomorrow by train. We have had a fantastic time, and the weather has been amazing for us the entire week, but we will not miss the noise or crowds, and are very much looking forward to a good soaking in the spas!