Buckingham Palace was phenomenal! I feel very lucky to have been able to visit it during my free day this past Sunday. They only open it for tours during the summer when the Queen is on holiday in Scotland, and in celebration of her 90th birthday, there was an exhibition called ‘Fashioning A Reign’, which was all about the Queen’s style over the years and included the largest collection of her clothes ever to be displayed to the public under one roof. Each piece had a fascinating backstory, ranging from the symbolism of the flora on her wedding dress to the innovative purple dress she wore to China designed to keep her cool. There were hundreds of pieces, including the baptismal gown originally made for the daughter of Queen Victoria in the 1800s that has since been used by a plethora of royal children.
On Sunday afternoon, I met my friends at the Churchill War Rooms (side note: while walking through St. James’s Park on the way from the palace, it started pouring, and it felt wonderful!). We spent several hours there; in addition to the museum portion dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill, we could walk through the Map Room and occupants’ quarters, most of which remained intact, just as they had been left after the celebrations of VE Day in 1945, for over 30 years! They were finally declassified in the late 1970s, and the British government authorized the conversion of the space into a museum. While cataloging the contents of
the rooms, they even found three sugar cubes left in the desk of one of the officers! Wouldn’t want to put those in my cuppa… Speaking of tea, after we explored the War Rooms, we walked through Westminster and stopped at Café Bella Maria, an adorable café and tea room, where we paused to rest our feet. We also looked through some nearby tourist shops – we figured we had to at least scope them out once! And look at what we found!
We followed in the footsteps of thousands of pilgrims yesterday as we sought to find Canterbury. We’ve been reading and writing analytical essays about Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales for the past few days in English Lit, so this day trip was especially fun, since it was far faster (and involved fewer horses and less long-distance trekking) than Chaucer’s pilgrims! The grounds of both the cathedral and the abbey were stunning, and it was very peaceful in both places. We had a discussion
about one of our recent reading assignments in the abbey (but still outside since it’s mostly in ruin), which we later found out was once the royal quarters of King Henry VIII’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. In my opinion, she had the best fate of any Tudor, with the possible exception of Queen Elizabeth I!
Last night, a group of us went out to a pub called The Nags Head (a nag is apparently a rather archaic name for a horse), which had a very cozy and inviting atmosphere; knick-knacks and photos literally covered the walls, peppy jazz seeped from late 90s/early 2000s faux-wooden speakers and the woman working at the bar wore her hair in voluminous curls secured by a small clip. The drinking age is 18 here, so tonight was the first time I’ve ordered a drink from a bar! It was quite fun. On our way there, we found Wiz Khalifa’s Bugatti! For the uninitiated, Wiz Khalifa is a really popular rap artist. Great end to a great weekend!
Tonight, I’m off to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Globe Theater with everyone. More pictures to come!
Jane…each morning we eagerly check for a new blog entry as we enjoy our morning cuppa (coffe for us). Your style is absolutely delightful, witty and educational. Dunno how long you get to stay but we wish it could be longer!
Love from Chas and Cathy
Uncle Chazzy and Aunt Cathy: I wish I could stay longer, too! It has been and continues to be such an amazing adventure, and I’m trying to fit in as much as possible between now and when I head back to the States…