LONDON DAY 17

Today was our last full day in London. Tomorrow morning we have to be at the metro by 5:00 am. I don’t plan on sleeping at all tonight. I think that will have to wait for the plane ride. But anyways… today we went to Buckingham Palace. This palace, like so many of the other palaces we have seen on this trip, is very large and very beautiful. It’s an unspoken rule that if you go to London you have to see the Palace so I was excited. As you enter through the Ambassadors entrance you want through hallways lined with paintings and marble statues and busts. Right before you enter the foyer that connects the grand hall and staircase you look out into a courtyard called the Quadrangle. From here you can see the four wings that make up the palace. From the Quadrangle you walk up the Grand staircase. This was really pretty because the banisters were made of pure gold and the rich red carpet gave it a very Royal feel.

After the Grand Staircase you enter rooms such as the green drawing room, the throne room, the picture gallery, and so on. It was all such a blur. Pictures were not allowed while in the palace (which I assume were for security reasons), but it was really a very beautiful place.

One of my favorite parts of the palace tour was the exhibit Queen and Commonwealth. This exhibit shows the beautiful gown that Queen Elizabeth has worn on her many trip to countries that are apart of the Commonwealth such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, and so many more. I wish I could have taken some pictures of these beautiful gowns but if you want to see some for yourself just go to…

http://www.fashion-era.com/royalty/queens-clothes-commonwealth-tour.htm#Queen_&_Commonwealth_

By the time we left the palace and the gift shop (where I got a few gifts for family), it was late afternoon and I still had a lot I needed to get done so I could finish packing and get ready to go home. Ashley and I wanted to see if we could maybe catch something of the changing of the guards but unfortunately it wasn’t scheduled for today, so we decided to leave but first we got a few pictures of the palace from the outside.

After we left the palace we decided to head over to Piccadilly Circus to do some last minute gift shopping and then headed back to the flat to pack. We tried for dinner together sometime around 9pm but it just didn’t work so we each grabbed something to eat and then… well that was it. Our time in Europe was over. Its now 2 in the morning and I’m tired but have to keep going. I’m excited to go home but I know that I will miss Europe. This truly has been and AMAZING EXPIRIENCE. See you next in the U.S. of A!!!