Another Palace!

It was Thursday, August 18, 2022, and we had the urge to visit another palace! In recent years we have visited Neuschwanstein Castle, the Palace of Versailles, El Palace Barcelona, and the Lausanne Palace (Lausanne, Switzerland), among others. Now: Buckingham Palace!

It was an easy 10 minute walk to the palace from our hotel. Along the way, we encountered the Queen Victoria Memorial:

There were also some amazing London gates! (Note the Queen Victoria Memorial in the background.):

Note the Buckingham Palace facade in the background:

Note the guard in red, in front of the palace:

Here is a view of the palace from the front, rather unassuming:

No photos were allowed inside the palace, but I managed these before and after our tour of the staterooms:

I found the palace to be much nicer than I expected. On the outside, it's rather plain. However, on the inside, there were chandeliers galore, lots of details in the ornate ceilings, furniture that were works of art, and lots of valuable art on display. I also noted many long upholstered sofas that are undoubtedly used during family events. There was a special display of items for the Platinum Jubilee which featured photographs of the Queen at various stages in her life, and a display of some of her jewels. I took a liking to an attractive bow brooch that she wore in one photo, and I was able to buy an inexpensive copy of it in the gift shop!

After our tour of the Staterooms, we had a garden view of the back of the palace:

There are a lot of geese because there is an attractive pond on the property.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a good Italian lunch at Misto Restaurant near our hotel. Brock got his Fettucini Carbonara fix taken care of:

Then it was on to our next adventure: the play "Julius Caesar" at Shakespeare's outdoor Globe Theatre! The people in "The Pit" had to stand up during the entire performance, which had 3 acts and lasted about 3 hours! I was grateful that we had seats!

We enjoyed yesterday's performance of "Much Ado About Nothing" much more, but it was a fun experience to see how the characters came in and out of the pit and involved the audience in the play.

Afterwards, on our way to grab a taxi back to our hotel, we enjoyed some of the city sights along the Thames River.

Note the bubbles in the foreground:

The Globe Theatre from the bridge (note the thatched roof):

Note "The Shard" building on the far right:

Note Tower Bridge in the background:

In late July, we took our motor boat, "Luxardo", to the Wildwood Resort in the rural town of Granville, TN on Cordell Hull Lake. While we were hanging out in the resort lobby in between rain showers when a group of 6 young people from London walked in. That's the last thing that you expect to see in Granville, TN! It turns out that they were taking a break from bar-hopping in downtown Nashville to come and do some kayaking and horseback riding out in the country. They were rained out of their kayaking and had some time to kill. We were interested in getting to know them, since we were about to come to London. So we joined them at their table for lunch and picked their brains about things they would recommend doing in London. That led to us keeping in touch with them, and we set up a meeting with them for this evening! We met them at the Savoy Hotel for drinks and dinner!

Here we're all dressed up and ready to leave the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel. I am wearing my new bow brooch:

L-R: Brooke Ashman (who was celebrating her 40th birthday on her Nashville trip), Stacy Gale, Nicola (Nic) Bowen-Jones, and me:

L-R: Brock, Stephen Gale, Matt Ashman, and Alastair Bowen-Jones, who was celebrating his 45th birthday with us!:

Nic and Brooke:

Stacy and Jane:

Alastair and Stephen:

Brock and Matt:

Jane and Brock:

Some fun shots by the beautiful flowers:

What a fun group!

Here, my fun dessert, a strawberry and champagne sorbet, topped with meringues:

What a fun time with some new friends! We left at 11:15 p.m. and they were having another round of drinks! The men had to work tomorrow, too! I hope we can continue to keep in touch with them.

You never know who you're going to meet. Life is a blessing.