Day 19: Tea At Buckingham Palace

Today I had tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace. True, the tea was from paper cups and the queen was Greg, but it was marvelous none the less. As we sat on the terrace sipping our hot tea and nibbling scones with berries and clotted cream we discussed the grandeur of the Palace's State Rooms which we had just toured. The enormous scale actually tempered the baroque opulence the palace was adorned with. The resulting effect was one of exquisite taste as opposed to tacky excess. I suspect the rooms were not only meant to impress, but also intimidate visitors. After all, as the audio guide had said, this is where Queen Elizabeth lives and works. It made me smile to think I had just spent the morning poking around her Majesty's home office. 

  After finishing our snack we left the cafe, and made our way past the restrooms and gift shop to the southern garden path. All three of the structures are completely portable, and once the queen returns from her annual holiday they will stowed away. We followed the path as it snaked through autumn-kissed trees and around ponds that reflected the palace on their dark surface. Eventually we found our feet once more on the city streets outside the palace grounds, and we returned to the east front.

  The area had been too packed with tourists waiting for the changing of the guard to get a good look at the palace on our last stop there. We had walked right past the throngs to stand in an almost nonexistent queue that morning. Now we could properly admire the building's main entrance. The beautiful fountain that sits in the mall provided fertile ground for my camera lens. The best of the shots are available on my Flickr page.