Buckingham Palace State Rooms - 20.09.14

So my first adventure out in the UK happened in London. I know that I had gone on a one day tour of the city with Mom in August before she went home, but unfortunately I never wrote a blog for that day.

Just know that it was a fun day and that I saw quite a bit of London and gave me plenty of ideas for further places to see.

It was on that day that I saw posters for a chance to visit inside Buckingham Palace and see the state rooms, which I decided would be my first adventure.

Canada Gate at St. James Park

I visited the Palace with a fellow teacher at Oaklands Primary. Her name is Bonnie and like me she is a foreign teacher, but from Australia not Canada.

Bonnie and I got to the palace just as the guards were finishing the changing of the guard so we didn't get to see it. I know that I will be making a visit back out to the palace to see this.

So it was interesting to see inside the state rooms of the Palace, which are the rooms that the Queen or reigning monarch uses as the "public" rooms. We were able to see the Throne Room, the gallery - which is filled with paintings, the main dining room, the ballroom and a few other drawing rooms.

All of the rooms were gilded and that it was gives the palace its majesty. Mostly though the palace just feels like a museum. Which I suppose it is because it holds things from farther back than the Victorian era.

The special exhibition this year is the Royal Childhood so incorporated through parts of the rooms and in the Ballroom do we get to see mementos from various royal children and their childhoods. It was toys, clothing and school work.

The back of Buckingham Palace

The tour concludes with exiting into the garden of the grounds and then a walk through a small sections of it.

After the Palace Bonnie and I went to Portobello Market in Notting Hill. We didn't get to see much as the market was closing, but I did get a chance to see the book store that inspired the one in the movie Notting Hill.

It was a great fun day and I can't wait for my next day out and exploring. It may be London or some other part of this fascinating i

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