London - Day 4 - Keep Calm and Carry On

We started our day by going over to Buckingham Palace to get tickets to view the state rooms. We waited in line for longer than we would have liked and got tickets for 3:15. 

We then headed to Kensington Palace. This was a disappointment for both of us and I would not recommend paying to go  inside. There was not a tour of any kind, you just walk through. The only part that feels palace-like at all is the King George rooms. Mark doesn't even think those rooms are palace-like. The rest is basically just average rooms.  We did see a few interesting things, but overall I just did not think this was worth going to.  Mark said that if we had gone inside to consider whether to rent it as an apartment, we would have decided against it!  I'm sure the private portion of the palace, which is being renovated for Will and Kate, will be much nicer.  

Queen Victoria's wedding gown:

There was a whole section about the tragic story of Queen Anne.  She was pregnant no less than 18 times, but each time she miscarried, until she finally gave birth to her son William.  Sadly, William fell ill at his eleventh birthday party and died a few days later, leaving no heirs to the throne.  

They had these creepy whisper walls.  When you sat down on the bench, you would start hearing whispering coming out of the walls.  Then you entered a bedroom exhibit that had chairs you sat in and looked up at William's supposed dreams on the ceiling.  Not sure anyone knows what he dreamed the last night he was alive. But Mark's comment was "I may never sleep again."  He also mentioned that the whole exhibit seemed like it was designed by Tim Burton.  

Here is Mark listening to the whispers:

This was part of the King George section.  Much more fancy...

After Kensington Palace, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed back over to Buckingham Palace.  

Being a school librarian, I like to bring a children's book character on vacation with me.  My students love seeing what these characters did on their summer vacations.  Here's Pigeon, from Mo Willems' Pigeon book series, visiting Buckingham Palace.

We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside but we really enjoyed the tour of the State Rooms.  I'm glad we were here in the summer; you can only go inside the Palace from late July to September, when the Queen is at her summer home in Scotland.

Here I am having tea and cake at Buckingham Palace.  I'm sure I'll be back on an invitation from the Queen once she sees my blog.  

After the palace, we walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe because that's what we think the Queen would have done. 

Then we headed over to Fleet Street to search for Sweeney Todd.  Instead we found Ye Olde Cock Tavern and stopped for a pint.  

We ended the evening with a nice dinner right along the Thames at the Cote Brasserie.

Postscript:  Okay, now you've read the glorious version of our day in London.  However, there is more to the story.  Kensington Palace...well, Mark has now dubbed it "Krapsington Palace."  Our lunch?  Five minutes to down a sandwich.  Mark's comment:  "You don't seem to be letting me eat on this trip."  Of course, we wanted to see the Princess Diana memorial...and then realized that it was a children's playground that we could not enter because it was full.  So, we followed that up with a random walk through desolate London streets to go to a pub that was closed.  Oh, and we almost missed one of our best parts of the day...our Buckingham Palace tour...as we sat on the lawn waiting for the tour.  Suddenly, Mark looks up and says "It's 3:10, we have to go."  (Our tour was at 3:15.) But, all of the issues with the day simply led to laughter during our dinner along the Thames with the London Tower Bridge in the background.