Here's the latest on our travels abroad!
Buckingham Palace
We were lucky to be visiting London during the two months when the State Apartments of Buckingham Palace are open to the public. Cindy, Andrew and I booked tickets to see this, as well as for a tour of the Royal Mews.
The
Royal Mews were originally where hawks were kept, and now are home to the
Queen's horses, carriages, and automobiles. Over 90 people staff the mews
and are responsible for training and caring for the horses, as well as
maintaining all the equipment (bridles, saddles, etc.), carriages, and cars!
There
were many displays of tack and the livery worn by groomsmen and coachmen.
But by far the most impressive display was that of the coronation carriage.
It looked like something out of Cinderella!
Our
self-guided tour of Buckingham Palace had us begin at the Ambassador's entrance,
and led us up a grand staircase to the throne room. From there, we toured
a series of drawing rooms, each with a color theme, e.g., the Blue Drawing Room.
It seemed each room was more magnificent than the one we had just left.
There were also two huge galleries with literally hundreds paintings and
sculptures from many of the masters - truly as fine a collection of art as can
be seen in any museum! 
There
was the state dining room, filled for this season with a commemorative exhibit
of many of the gifts presented to the Queen by heads of state during her 50-year
reign. The ballroom was magnificent as well. But my favorite room,
the White Drawing Room, had a "hidden" door in the corner, left partially open -
no doubt the way that people in the Royal household travel when tourists aren't
around...
As
we exited the palace and walked through part of the magnificent gardens, we were
astonished and delighted to find a marvelously decorated life-size cow, in honor
of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. It was part of the 'Cows on Parade' exhibit
all over London. (See Covent Garden page for a picture of another bovine).
[Postscript - Andrew gave me a miniature of this cow and 5 others as a wonderful Christmas gift!]
