The photos below are what we saw.
Our
travel path took us right by Big Ben again. Ben is part of
Parliament and the War Room was chosen to be close to Parliament.
Not
surprisingly, most of the War Room was dark and cramped and
therefore not really photo-worthy. But, the story was
engaging and it is worth a visit if you are in the area.
The photo above was a recreation of one of dozens of small,
cramped quarters in the basement of a department store that was
converted to Britain's command center during WWII. Note
the supporting wooden posts that were installed to help prevent
cave-ins in the event of a bomb falling on the building
above. Churchill's quarters were about the size of my
bathroom at home and only the main map room was much
bigger. Even then, that room was smaller than my kitchen.
These were difficult times and the British made do with what
they had.
After
the War Room, we headed into St. James' park and walked past the
Park Ranger's quarters which are called "Duck Island
Cottage". This would be a great gig if you could get it.
We
walked the length of St. James park to Buckingham Palace.
The changing of the guards had just completed, but we could hear
the marching band as they were departing the area.
The
gardens across the street from the palace were in full bloom and
nicely kept. Note the cranes on the skyline. London
is experiencing a huge sure in building construction.
The
crowds parted long enough to get a relatively unobstructed view
of the palace. The Queen's standard is flying on the flag
pole indicating that she is currently in residence in the palace.
The
entrance drive into the palace area is expansive and ornate.
A
Japanese tourist was nice enough to do a very good job of our
photo using Steve's camera. In case you were questing the
strap on my hat, the wind was howling fast and strong causing
our eyes and noses to be very unhappy. Everyone in the
crowd was sneezing from the pollen. The strap was the only
thing keeping the hat on my head.
Plenty
of folks were attempting to take selfies at the main gate to the
palace. Instead, I used a little help from my friends.
The
guards are active duty military with locked-and-loaded automatic
rifles and fixed bayonets.
There
were many buses full of French teenagers on tour.
The
royal crest of the British Crown: the lion and unicorn.
Kathleen
wanted to visit the Queen's gallery. They were having an
exhibition of garden-themed works of art. I did not
realize until after I took this photo that this is an original
Rembrandt (not a reproduction). The painting shows
Christ's departure from the tomb.
Another
interesting original, but too wide to capture in one photo.
This
print caught Kathleen's eye and she insisted I take a photo of
it and include it in this page.
This painting
was solely in the mind's eye of the painter, Hendrick Danckerts,
but was a reasonably accurate representation of one of the royal
gardens. This was done in about 1670.
This is
an amazingly detailed painting of one of the royal garden
parties.
From the
Queen's Gallery we went to the Royal Mews to see some of the
Queen's rolling stock. There were a number of elegant
carriages so in the interest of brevity I chose one that was
representative. Note the curved springs at the ends of the
carriage. The passenger compartment is supported by
leather straps.
The
royal crest with the latin equivalent of "No one can harm me
unpunished".
This
gold-leaf encrusted carriage weighs 8,000 pounds and is drawn by
a team of 8 horses.
This was
way over the top for me, but every icon and carving has some
symbolic significance.
This is
the only one of the Queen's limos that were displayed.
Our feet
were crying the blues so we left Hyde Park and caught a cab
outside of One Hyde Park. Our cabbie told us these are the
most expensive "apartments" (AKA condos) in London.
It was a
great day and we saw some very interesting things.
Buckingham Palace is always impressive, but Kensington less
so. But, remember, it is an actual residence and the
tourists were confined to the rear of the structure (with heavy
security in place).
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2015, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.