Royal Day Out

Hello everyone!

This morning I woke up for the second half of Richmond vs North Melbourne. Good to see nothing has changed since I left - Richmond are still chokers and can't win a final to say themselves! Dad made a very funny point, that Carlton have won more finals than Richmond in the last three years and haven't even made the top eight. Heeheehee!

Today was a day I had been looking forward to for most of the year. Back in March whilst I was staying at Emily's house, her mum told me about something called the 'Royal Day Out'. This is where you get to go inside the state rooms of Buckingham Palace, and also see the Picture Gallery and the Royal Mews. It books out especially at the weekend so we booked in March. So I met Stephen and some of his friends out the front and we started our royal day out!

Our first stop was the picture gallery. This was fairly good but like most picture galleries I've already seen to be honest. But I did enjoy it because the theme was gardens, and there were lots of paintings of places I've been to this year and last time in London such as Kew Gardens, Hampton Court etc. I also found it interesting to read that in the 16th and 17th century, there were 20 times more plants under cultivation in Europe than in the previous two millennia. We spent about half an hour in here. 

Whilst Stephen, me and one of his friends were standing outside waiting for the other three, we saw a big bus. On the side of the bus was a rugby symbol and a Fijian flag. And then it hit us - the Fijian rugby team are in town for the Rugby World Cup that starts this Friday! So we did our best not to look like touristy stalkers. JUST KIDDING! We got out our cameras and shamelessly took photos, and probably couldn't have made it any more obvious. Hahaha! I hope I see the Aussies at some point!

Then we went to the Royal Mews next door. This was when it actually started to feel like we were going inside the palace complex! This is where various royal coaches and the royal horses are kept. Most carriages kept here were built during Queen Victoria's time on the throne, as during this time England's coach making was world renowned. Victoria also didn't like cars. 

The Royal Mews was built for king George III and was completed in 1766. Before his time, there was a royal mews in Charing across that Henry VIII used. We saw many coaches in the mews. The first was the Irish State Coach which was exhibited in the 1853 Great Industrial Exhibition in Dublin and caught Queen Victoria's eye. We then saw the Glass Coach which carried Queen Elizabeth II to her wedding, but was originally acquired for the coronation of her grandfather King George V in 1911. Then we saw the Scottish state coach which transported the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to the royal wedding in 2011. There were also some cars on display. My favourite coach on display was the Diamond Jubilee state coach. This was built by Australian designer J Frecklington, a former employee of the mews. It was even built in Australia and features some Australian beech wood! The crown on the top was made of oak from lord Nelson's HMS Victory. 

Next up were the stables. There were 32 stalls and each had a name above them for each horse. The queen names them all, and a lot were named after places. Riga, Vienna, Londonderry and even Melbourne! The royal horses housed in here are Windsor greys and Cleveland bays. In here the state coach was housed. It weighs four tonnes, is pulled by eight horses and in 1762 when it was built it cost £7652 to make. It was used to take Queen Elizabeth II to her coronation ceremony. 

Last but not least was Buckingham Palace itself. I was so excited!!! When I came here in January 2011 I don't know why but I assumed you could always go in. Little did I realise it's only two months of the year that you can!! Buckingham Palace is special to me because in 2000 when I was 7 turning 8, I wrote the queen a birthday card. Mum went along with it and probably thought it was very cute. But shortly after I received a letter in the mail from Buckingham Palace, from one of the queen's ladies in waiting thanking me for my card! It was strange going in here knowing that letter from 15 years ago now was written there!! I've attached a photo of it to the blog (I have it saved on my laptop as a digital copy as it's very special to me!). 

Buckingham Palace was originally Buckingham House, and was bought by George III off the Dukes of Buckingham in the 1760s. During George IV's reign, he hired John Nash to build Buckingham Palace. But it went excessively over budget and upon George's death he was replaced. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live in the palace, and during her reign she had the marble arch removed (and moved to where it is today near Hyde Park!) and built the front of the palace. 

For the next couple of hours I really enjoyed wandering around Buckingham Palace. We all ended up getting separated but never mind! We saw 19 of the state rooms. You're unable to take photos so I've attached some off the internet. It was actually good though as people properly looked at things instead of through a screen. We saw lots of beautiful rooms including the picture gallery, East gallery, banquet hall and many more. I particularly loved the exhibition installed that detailed how the palace goes about state visits. I found it particularly relevant because it spoke of the most recent visit being by the Mexican president. This was during my first week in London in March, and I actually saw the Mexican president drive by in a car with David Cameron!!

The exhibition detailed what goes on in the kitchens, dressmaker's office etc. It was great learning how it still works today. But part of me did feel that even though (obviously) she's the queen and they're a very important family, it's kind of sad to think that this massive palace is used for two people and is full of such decorated and valuable items. Meanwhile every day here I see more and more homeless people. Just an interesting comparison, but that's the way the world works I guess!

I saw clothes worn by the queen, jewellery worn by the queen, and heard some interesting facts from my audio guide along the way. Over the years, 62,000 people have visited the palace during events hosted by Queen Elizabeth inside the palace. Each time a garden party is held, 8,000 people attend. Since 1993, 7 million tourists like me have visited the state rooms upon its opening to the public. There are 350 clocks in the palace, and it's the job of two people to maintain them and ensure they run smoothly. There are 21 chefs and 25,000 bottles of wine! The gardens are 39 acres in total and are looked after by eight gardeners. 

I left the palace and Stephen was waiting for me. Turned out I had taken about 20 minutes longer than everyone else - oops! He caught the train with me and we met the others at a pub near Southwark (pronounced Suthik) tube station. Seeing as I literally have about £6 to spare in my UK account (had to dip into my Aussie again today. Exchange rate has gotten worse *cries* who knew that was possible?!) I had already had my sandwiches and fruit I brought with me. So I just had a cider!!

Headed home via the supermarket in Angel. I've come to realise that maybe the dizziness and sick feelings I get sometimes over here are because I don't eat enough meat. Being on a budget AND eating well when just cooking for one is quite difficult. Luckily for me, Sainsbury's had some steak and mince on special so I've stocked up and frozen it. Got some more of those chicken sachets too so tonight I had BBQ chicken. Oh my god it was amazing. And the best part is I cooked two serves with veggies and rice so now I've dinner ready for tmro! I'm not completely hopeless at cooking! Yay!

Tonight I've been getting lots done and preparing for a very busy week ahead. I'm working at the primary school I was at least term all week long which I'm really looking forward to! And tmro and Wednesday night I have football matches. Going to be a great (but tiring!) week as I haven't worked a full week since mum and dad were here. I'll get used to it though :)

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox