Buckingham Palace

Our Saturday trip for this week was a "Royal Day Out" at Buckingham Palace, which is only open for a short period each year. This began with a tour of the Queen Mother's art collection, which had a few interesting works by Gainsborough and Sargent etc. Nice, but not spectacular. More interesting was our audio tour of the State Rooms in the Palace itself. These didn't differ too much from what we saw in the palaces in Sicily or Naples, but it was satisfying to stand in the courtyard directly beyond the front facade of the Palace. After all these years of wondering what was behind there, I can finally reveal that it is a big parking lot covered in pink chip gravel. And it looks cheap. Oh well!

To be honest, the palatial interiors, though requisitely grandiose, are somewhat gaudy. Red velvet everywhere (including on the walls), pointlessly detailed chandeliers (they're too high up to really appreciate) and everything else is gold-gilted (but looks spraypainted). It's sad to think how much £ has gone into these things, yet they actually look like cheap replicas from a film set. However, I will confess that the extra jewellery pieces we saw are impressive. The Queen owns some terrifyingly large diamonds, emeralds and rubies. And a couple of nice, miniature triptyches by Duccio and Agnolo Daddi. Credit where credit is due!

Highlights were a collection of the Queen's dresses from her public appearances over the years, the ballroom where honours ceremonies are performed, New Zealand's order of merit badge on display, and the small piano conservatory that was the most beautiful room in the palace (and has a great view of the private gardens).

We took a wee break part-way for a nice pub lunch, before returning to the Royal Mews. I was interested to learn that 'mews' is a technical term from the art of falconry, and that the word has since become synonymous with 'stables' ever since Henry VIII housed his horses in a falconers after his own stables burned down.

We only got to see a couple of horses at the Royal Mews, but there was an impressive collection of carriages, each with its own fascinating story (thanks to a tour guide). There is also one stable in which the Rolls-Royce limousines are kept. They actually replace the "Spirit of Ecstasy" hood ornament with royal emblems. Tsk tsk, but then I suppose the divine right of monarchs at least extends to 'pimping their rides'.

Spent the afternoon almost shopping. I say almost, because we lost our second cashflow card to Sainsbury's since arriving in the UK.