Friday, August 10, 2007

We went to the Queen's house last weekend...


Haha! Well, we toured Buckingham Palace last weekend while the royal family is at their summer home, Holyrood Palace in Scotland. You have to book tickets far in advance to tour the palace as it is only open for a few weeks each year.

It was the hottest day yet this summer, but a nice day for being out and about. The palace interior was absolutely AMAZING. The Palace is full of intricately carved wood, amazing ceilings, silk covered walls, art and sculptures from all ages, and so much more! Beautiful place, but unfortunately we have no pictures to share as no pictures are allowed inside. Google it. I'm sure you'll find something.

Interestingly enough, the guy hired (way back when) to decorate the palace was fired prematurely as he vastly over spent on his budget. The rooms not decorated by him are lovely as well, but you can tell they are missing the minute details and intricacy of the other rooms. Although that must have been bad for the government that fiscal year, I'm sure the royal family is not upset by what he gave them.

We also toured the Royal Mews - the stables....for the horses and the royal carriages. We also saw the Rolls-Royce stretch Phantom. Amoung the many carriages was the one Princess Diana rode in on her wedding day...I have no idea how her dress and Prince Charles both fit in there with her! They also have a carriage that has Waterford crystal lamps on the side that have the Queen's likeness carved in to them. The horses look like they have a nice place to stay although I'm sure some Kentucky stables would knock their socks off.

The third part of our tour was the Royal Gallery - a collection of fine art. Nice. Josh and I appreciate art but we weren't moved by this collection in any way....no paintings that resembled family members here.

Oh, for the ladies...one of the most spectacular parts of the Royal Gallery and the Palace were the jewelry pieces on display. Oh, I get woozy thinking about them. I drooled over the ascher cut and pear shaped diamond broch being 64 and 94 carats, respectively. Oh my. And the crowns...every little girl's (or young-at-heart-woman's) dream! Amazing. Oh, and the diamond bracelet about 2 inches wide...it didn't just sparkle - it glowed! Oh, and the pink diamond - the largest pink diamond in the world! (Jane, you would have loved it!) I lingered for awhile at these cases while Josh waited for me patiently. What a good man.

Overall it was a nice day minus Josh being slightly under the weather due to a cold. We would suggest the Palace tour to friends but would say you could skip the Royal Gallery and the Mews (although ladies, half of the jewels you see are in the Royal Gallery).

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