The Day of Small Tours

I felt really productive on this day because Mom and I watched the Changing of the Guards, went to the Royal Mews, walked through Westminster Cathedral (but not the big one), rested at the Banquet Hall, ate in China Town, and then saw "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night". The tours we went on wouldn't be on my list of things to do if you only have 3 days in London, but I'm really glad we had time to see them! See my post on the Changing of the Guards if you're interested in that, but I'll start with the Royal Mews for now.

The Royal Mews is right next (almost adjacent) to Buckingham Palace and acts as basically it's garage. It houses all of the carriages, coaches, and some cars that are used by the Royal Family. At first, I wasn't terribly excited about going to the Mews, but by the end, I was really just jealous of the royal family who gets to ride in cool carriages. I could just about see myself riding in these carriages down the mile long road (The Mall) with a perfected princess wave going on, and I could practically cry thinking that I'll never get to... All of the vehicles were there, but most of the horses were out on vacation. Yes, even the horses get vacation to a beach every year for 10 days... At first, you see a lot of carriages that kind of look alike, but then there is the largest and most golden carriage that I think exists in the world. It truly is fit for royalty! They made a big deal about the "Diamond Jubilee Coach", but the "Gold State Coach" was much larger and more spectacular. Here is a comparison of the two:

Now, you tell me which one you'd rather ride in... Because I'd feel as if I were better than Cinderella if I rode in the Gold State Coach pictured on the right. I think that one can actually ride straight through the gates of Heaven in all of its glory. So, the Royal Mews was pretty cool after seeing all of these carriages, and I think that I might invest in one in the future. I'll just have to find a place to tie up my horses afte they pull me to dinner.

Next, Mom and I stopped in a small Irish pub for my first true British pub meal. We got a sample platter with fish and chips, a meat pie, and a small slider burger. Of all the samples, I enjoyed the fish and chips the most because it was much lighter than the other two. However, I also really enjoyed the meat pie! It was basically just ground beef and onions in gravy inside of a pastry. What's not to love about meat and bread? The hamburger was pretty much the same as any hamburger I could get in America so it wasn't as exciting. When we left the pub, I felt pretty heavy, though, because all the food was very greasy and there weren't many vegetables to break up the rich flavors.

The next item on our list was to go to the Banquet Hall, but in transit, we came across the eloquent Westminster Cathedral. It has a bricked facade, but the interior was so beautiful and open with vaulting mosaiced ceilings. We came across this cathedral after attending a service in Wesminster Abbey, and I actually think I would enjoy a service here more because it was much more open than Westminster Abbey. Here, you would be able to see the choristors as they sing through a service. This Cathedral was also very cool because it had small chappels surrounding the sanctuary that were dedicated to different saints. So, if you wanted to pray to a specific Saint, you could go to the chapel dedicated to them and pray surrounded by their representations. There is a very tall tower that you can see most of London from the top, but it was a dreary day, and Mom and I didn't want to pay if we couldn't see very far due to fog. So, we caught our bus and continued on to Whitehall Castle.

A little groggy from the lunch we ate, Mom and I couldn't have stumbled upon a better tour than this one. The Banquet Hall is the last remaining room of Whitehall Castle after King George I was overthrown because he thought of himself as a god. All the 'peasants' rebelled against him, captured him, beheaded him and then destroyed pretty much everything he

owned. It was kind of cool, though, because King Charles was actually beheaded in that very room! The tour itself is not very interactive, but it's fabulous for the middle of the day when your feet are tired from walking. The main attraction here is the ceiling, which was painted by Peter Paul Reubens. Sadly, Reubens never got to see his artwork hung up on the ceiling because he painted the panels first and then they were hung in Whitehall. To look at this stunning ceiling, there are bean bag chairs scattered around the floor that you can sit in while you look at the ceiling and listen to an audio guide tour. The guide explains all of the panels that are on the ceiling and the history that occured in the room. There are also some mirrors placed around the room so that you can look down to see the ceiling instead of straining your neck up for 45 minutes. So this room is literally the only part of this attraction, but I thorougly enjoyed getting to relax in a cozy bean bag chair and learn about King Charles I, who is the namesake of Charleston, South Carolina, apparently!

After visiting the Banquet Hall, Sarah was done at the hospital, so she met us at a Pret- A- Manger (see post on take away food stores) so that we could find dinner before our show. A little ironically, we ate at a Japanese restaurant in China Town. This China town was about the size of one row of shops in New York's China Town, but it was a lot cleaner and friendlier. We ate sushi for dinner and marveled at all of the bakeries with their colorful pastries. However, we didn't get to stay long because we were pressed for time to make it to the theatre before they closed the doors.

To end the night, Mom, Sarah, and I went to see "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night". I will be honest, I was a little skeptical about this one at first because I couldn't fathom how they could adapt a book that is written entirely from the perspective of a boy's mind, but I am so happy that my doubts were proven wrong! There were only about 6 people in the cast and it was a very modern style play. The stage was set up like a grid with 4 dimensions labeled on it. In this grid, there were hidden doors to pull props out of and even stairs that emerged from it so that Christopher could literally walk down the wall. There was a lot of lighting and computer work that went into the production to display all of the emotions, signs, and notes that the main character could "see". I could imagine and empathize with everything that Christopher, the protagonist who suffers from severe Asperger's Syndrome, was seeing and feeling. The lights and sound created a lot of overwhelming noise that made the audience feel as confused as Christopher while he adventured into the crazy world that we live in. My favorite part about the theatres in London is that during intermission, there are Haagen-Das vendors who sell tiny cups of ice cream for a mid-show treat. Sarah and Mom also won a little button with a smiley face on it because Sarah sat in a prime number seat (Christopher's favorite numbers), and her name, when the alphabet was assigned numbers and added up, came out to be a prime number as well! Sorry if that's confusing. Say we number the alphabet starting with A being 1, B being 2, and going until Z is 26. Then, take the letters of Sarah (19+1+18+1+8) and add them together to get 47. That's a prime number! So Sarah got a cool button. Mom also got one because her name adds up to equal 29 even though she technically didn't sit in a prime number seat.

This whole day was very filled with things to do. It was a nice day where we didn't waste time deciding what we wanted to do next. Instead, we just knew what we wanted to do and vistited each place for however long we needed. So, I got to see a lot of British things all at once, but that's the very reason I came to London! Haha, and maybe later I'll have time to listen to hipster Hannah and not do touristy things. But it would just be a shame if I came all this way and didn't see the things that I should see at least once. In this way, I can come back later and just enjoy the time I have meeting new people and experiencing new things.

#London