Lizzle is in London!

Written yesterday.

I’m in London! And I have successfully managed to convince my parents to stay here an extra day so we can see some of the London tourist hotspots we missed today. After getting up ridiculously early without any alarms, we started our day by taking a red double-decker hop-on/hop-off tour bus. Whoo, breathe after all those modifiers. While on the bus, we passed by the Marble Arch, Grosvenor Place, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben and Parliament, the Eye of London, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London.

We got off at the Tower of London and toured it for a while. Our tour guide did not spare us the gory details of several of the notable executions – like William Wallace’s death where he was half-hung, drawn and quartered. We skipped the Bloody Tower where the instruments of torture are kept and went on to something much more family-friendly, like the Crown Jewels. The Light of India and the Star of Africa are inconceivably huge – say three-quarters the size of my fist.

After the Tower of London, my father went back to the hotel to make a conference call, and my mother and I proceeded to Buckingham Palace. We took a tour of the Royal Mews, which unfortunately only houses horses, carriages, and cars – no falcons. However, it was worth spending time at the Mews to see the Carriages of Scotland, and Australia, as well as the Coronation Carriage. It is a gigantic carriage, and makes Cinderella’s shimmery, effervescent fairy carriage look like the pumpkin it is. The Coronation Carriage looks like it is the offspring of an Italian Renaissance fountain and a German rococo church. Bathe it all in gold and you have the Carriage. It weighs about four tons, and it takes eight horses to pull it.

I was disappointed with the Mews for a second reason – I only saw three horses, two of which were the rumps as they were led outside to be exercised. There were more than three dozen stalls that could be occupied by horses. I suppose they must all be on holidays.

Buckingham Palace itself was fantastic. The rooms were opulent and gorgeous, and if I were an ambassador to Great Britain, I certainly would be impressed. Everywhere I looked, there was white and gold, and the colors of the rooms were so vibrant. Buckingham Palace trumps the Belgian Royal Palace in terms of grandeur, but I still have tender feelings for the Belgian palace because it is small(er) and charming. I liked Buckingham for the same reason I liked the Belgian palace: it felt modern and like it was used.

Not long after leaving Buckingham, my mother and I ventured to Piccadilly Circus, got something to eat, and then meandered through London back to our hotel.

All in all, a good day. Tomorrow: Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and a museum like the Tate or British Museum.