God Save The Queen!

Last Saturday 10/09/2011 it was our very great pleasure to visit Her Majesty The Queen's official residence in London - Buckingham Palace to you and me. What an amazing time we had - I can heartily recommend it to anybody. Arriving at 10.35am - ten minutes before our allotted slot, we were at first dismayed to see the long queue stretching around the front of the palace, however, this quickly disappeared as we were ushered into the "holding pens". Passing through airport security we collected our audio guides and tried to make sense of the instructions - this proved to be the only slightly sticky moment of the visit, as a bit of a log jam formed as people struggled to grasp the concept of listening to instructions and pressing buttons...
Anyway, after swapping one of our Japanese headsets for an English one we were off - and what a journey - the tour takes you through all the state rooms that the Queen uses to entertain her guests - they are all awe inspiring in their opulence and scale. Beautiful colour schemes and lashings of gold leaf - we were particularly taken with the galleries - purpose built halls with glass roofs - allowing natural light to display the beauty of Canaletto and Titian alike.
Another slight log jam at the Faberge exhibition as visitors tarried in front of glass cases containing intricate, priceless wonders, but then we were through and approaching the main event - "The Wedding Dress". Despite The Queen describing its setting as "horrible", it was a great thrill to see the dress that Kate had worn on her wedding day - that lady is tiny! Also a reproduction of her bouquet, shoes and earrings in the same room and in the next room - the cake - a magnificent multi - tiered affair that looked amazing.
All too soon we were out into the gardens - a spectacle in themselves - and it would have been rude not to take a little tiffin on the balcony - strawberries and chocolate cake... then a visit to the shop to purchase the obligatory "Royal" souvenirs - you can never have too many tea towels...

So there you are - a glimpse of a better time when we all admired, feared and respected our royalty, I can't help feeling we've lost something in our modern world - quite a few somethings actually - don't get me started...