Mega Awesome Tourist Weekend

---

Well, what a weekend! So busy, and are my legs feeling it today (and yesterday for that matter, but being Sunday, had to push on through). Due to the fact that time is ticking away for me in London, it was time to get out there are see the sites. Equipped with my London Pass (what an investment that was!), I set out to get my moneys worth.

Following my carefully planned, and roughly timed timetable, which was completed during work hours, I crammed in as much into one day as possible.

First stop was the Tower of London. True to English form, the rain was pouring down. This was pretty much the forecast for the whole weekend, so I just had to get out there and suck it up. Besides, bad weather might actually keep some people away, equalling less crowds. I like! The London Pass did its stuff by giving me VIP entry, letting me skip the queue for tickets. Suckers. When the gates opened, I entered the Tower of London, to a Beefeater doing a rendition of 'Venus' by Bananarama. Certainly not something you see everyday! Nice to see they are keeping it traditional though. It was a good plan by me to get in there so early, as there were only a few people around at this point, leaving my photos virtually people free. Hooray! It was great to be able to get some rooms to myself as well. It goes without saying that the highlight of the Tower of London is definitely the Crown Jewels. These things are IMPRESSIVE! Just looking at all the sparkle made my mouth water. It was pretty amazing to look at the world's biggest cut diamond. Very sparkly! It was also interesting looking at the prison towers, which had some impressive graffiti 1500s style.

My next stop was just next door, so to speak, at Tower Bridge. Here I went up in the tower on the side of the bridge, walked across the top, and down the other side. It was then on to the Engine Rooms where the big steam boilers were that used to operate the bridge. Now I think they are just running for tourist purposes.

Moving on, it was a quick tube ride to St Paul's Cathedral. This is one impressive building. Recently being restored for its 300th birthday, the paintings and mosaics were so bright and vivid. One can't help but gasp as you look up at the ceiling. I decided to climb the some 530 steps to the Golden Gallery at the top of the dome, passing through the Whispering Gallery and the Stone Gallery. The views were incredible! The Golden Gallery is 85.4 metres from the ground and offers impressive panoramic views. St Paul's definitely exceeded my expectations. One of the things I thought was a nice touch, is just before you got outside to the bloody windy Golden Gallery there is a small square of clear perspex that looks down to the ground floor below. Not for those with vertigo issues that's for sure. The people below were like ants!

I then crossed the river to Willy Wobblestick's (Shakespeare's) Globe. I went into the exhibition, which was alright, but didn't get to see into the theatre itself, as there was a wait until the next tour, and it didn't fit into my time table. So after a look around, it was back across the river to the tube, which I caught to Embankment, from where I went to Banquet House.

Banquet House is opposite the Horse Guard's, and as the name suggests, its main purpose was to hold royal banquets. It was a part of the refurbished Whitehall (yes, the Monopoly one) and is still in its original state, despite fire damaging the rest of Whitehall. What makes Banquet House special is its panelled ceiling, which is made up of nine large painting set into commission by King Charles I. It is also rather special, as outside a platform was built that lead out from the second floor Banquet House, and this was were Charlie was beheaded for treason, the only king to be executed.

It was then a nice stroll through St James' Park to Buckingham Palace where I went to the Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews. The Queen's Gallery is a small gallery and features the artwork that the royal family is "holding for the Nation". Although small, there was some nice stuff in here, including a room of works by Leonardo DiVinci. Add some more paintings and a few more crowns and jewels and there you have the Queen's Gallery.

The Royal Mews is where they keep all the horsies and carriages at Buckingham Palace. It was interesting to see, and they have some very nice looking horses there. It is a self sustained community. With people living there who do pretty much everything one can do with horses, they take in outside work as well as palace duties because they are the best! The Golden Carriage was of course the highlight of this place. It almost doesn't look real, there is so much gold on it!

I then strolled around the outside of the palace walls to Wellington Arch, where I went up inside to see the views up there. They would have been impressive views of Big Ben's clock tower once, but the trees are now too tall, so there wasn't much to see. It would probably have been better views in winter when the trees had no leaves. But no matter, I then crossed the road to Apsley House, which was the Duke of Wellington's winter residence after the Battle of Waterloo, and as you would imagine the house is very grand and totally decked out in imagery of his 'glorious victory'. It is quite impressive and he did love the use of gold on pretty much everything. The table service was rather special.

My sore legs then took me across Hyde Park, where sounds of the O2 Festival that was being held there could be heard, and then through Kensington Gardens to Kensington Palace. Kensington Palace was a bit of a surprise packet, as they were holding an exhibition called 'The Last Debutants'. It was about how in 1956 the last debs were presented to court, the ending of a 200 year tradition. It was put together well, and some of the dresses on display were great. I wouldn't mind them in my collection. The exhibition was done in a fun way. It was then on to a small fashion exhibition, which was of course displaying some of Diana's more famous dresses, and the grand State Rooms. They didn't like to do things in halves the royals. What a house!

I had one last stop for the day, and that was Kew Gardens. By then time of arrival, I missed admission to the glass houses and tree top walk by 15 minutes, but still had a look around. It was such a nice place. Massive and holds the largest amount of plants as any garden in the world. But would you expect less from a garden that you usually have to pay to get in? I think not! But it was beautiful.

It was then to Krystel's house to watch her show's premier (Last Choir Standing) and see her name in the credits.

What a Saturday! Sunday was an early rise again, but I planned it to be a lot less busy, just having two stops on my list. Thank goodness, as I don't think my poor legs could have done any more, not that I didn't limp around all day anyway.

I first of all made my way to Paddington Station, at which I couldn't resist the Paddington Bear stand again, and bought another Paddington Bear. It was a special 50th anniversary one, so it was allowed. I boarded the train and was on my way to Windsor and Windsor Castle! Windsor is a very nice town. It is immaculate and the shops are so nice. The castle is a short walk from the station, and it is huge!

I was greeted as being the first customer of the day, thanks to my VIP Entry with the London Pass and the fact that everyone else had to stick with their groups. Well worth getting here early folks, as I had the place to myself for at least 15 minutes! Once again, it was pretty good to get a look around the place and get some photos on my own. I also missed what would be very long queues to get into see Queen Mary's Dolls House. "Dolls House?!?!" I hear you say. That may be so, but it is one impressive dolls house. It is an exact replica of Windsor Castle, down to the wall paper and what is hanging on the walls. Even the plumbing and electricity works. And might I added, that according to this dolls house, Windsor Castle has one awesome wine cellar in the basement. Pretty much covers the entire site!

After the dolls house it was then on to the State Rooms, which were so amazing. I listened to my free audio guide to fill me in on the history, of which I can't really remember much, but it was good at the time. Once again, so much gold! Something that was quite funny, while walking around the grounds; a guard, on his walk to his post I assume, said 'Hiya' to me. I didn't think these guys were allowed to talk while they march on their merry way. Obviously not. You have to love their big hats though. I just might have bought a toy version for myself. Oh, how my crazy hat collection is growing!

My final destination to see on my London Pass was the London Zoo, saved until last as it is not far from our house. It was pretty good here, but I think Melbourne is a bit better. A highlight was going into the Reptile House that features at the beginning of the first Harry Potter movie. If you like birds, this is the zoo for you. So many birds! I didn't even go into all the bird houses, and I was birded out! When my legs couldn't take anymore walking, I headed home for an early night, and got to watch the Men's Final in the Wimbledon Tennis live on tv while it was still daylight. Thank god I wasn't up until 3am like everyone back home have had to be. What a match!

What a weekend! Still so much to see in London, but hopefully it won't be as busy as the weekend just passed so I can take it a little more easily.

---

Photos

The Tower of London
The glass building in the background is where I work

Raven
These are here for luck. When all the Ravens leave the Tower of London, the Monarchy will fall. Needless to say, they keep some in cages

More Tower Bridge
Mo

Has Anyone Seen Dogma?
This was out on the Stone Gallery at St Pauls

Comments

[Empem]

More Photos
Hi Everyone, I have finally posted some photos of Rye on the page called 'Works Out'. Enjoy!