Exclusive Evening Tour of Buckingham Palace

I went on the evening tour of Buckingham Palace tonight.  It is a one and a half hour guided tour with a glass of champagne in the Bow room to finish.  It was 80 pounds and worth every penny.   There were only about  30 on the tour and it was just so informative.   We went through the same entrance as the Queen and other dignatories.  Go up the Grand staircase and go through about 10 rooms.  The beauty of the Palace just takes your breath away.  The ceilings and grand chandeliers alone are just magnificant.  The wealth in the building is breathtaking from the furniture to the paintings.  The rooms were familiar from photos I..e. Dian after her wedding bending down to talk to the flower girls,  the room where James Bond walked, the backdrop to the Royal wedding photos, the room where the royal christenings are held etc.  However nothing prepares you for the beauty of it all.   We saw the gold piano that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert played on,  where Condalesa Rice gave her impromptu concert etc.  The room where Kate and William had their wedding reception was stunning but I did wonder how they fitted 500 people in there.  The funiture was just wonderul - my favourite were the pink chairs and sofas that Queen Victoria had put in the Palace - pink cushioning and gold legs.  We were just so close to the throne that Queen Elizabeth sat in at her Coronation.  It was just beautiful.  When you leave you are escorted out through the courtyard that fronts onto the Mall and you can see people wondring what you were doing in the Palace.   Oh we did see where the secret door was in one of the rooms.

Leaving Santorini

Well I am now back in much colder London.  On the last day in Santorini I went back to the Prehistoric Museum to just wander around and look at the items.  I find that when you read all the notes attached to the items you miss really looking at them.  I was intrigued by the tablet that had the Linear A script on it - I have seen the Linear B before but not Linear A .  They look similar to my untrained eye and I was wondering why they have only been able to descipher Linear B.  They also had a bathtub which was tiny by our standards but then I remembered the Guide said they were ony average height of 5'3".    when having lunch on my last day I was gazing out over the sea and noticed people arriving - which in itself was not unusual - but the fact that those helping them with the luggage virtually run down the pathway steps with these big cases on their shoulders was.

London is much colder so I went to the Tower of London and did the Beefeaters tour - I must admit it worries me a bit the gruesome tales of the executions with children on the Tour.  Then off to Kensington Palace to see the new Queen Victoria exhibition.  The jewelery is just breathtaking - but what I found really interesting was seeing her hand writing and the clothes her and her husband wore - she was much tinier than I thought.  Then I had a print out of a great fire of London walk and was excited to be going to the place where it started.  Would you believe when I got to the plaque in Pudding Lane it said the fire started 'near here' - what does that mean 10 ' away, 20' away - I was so disappointed.

It is a rare sunny day today so I am off to wander around London.

Santorini

I was walking around Santorini about 8.30 this morning with the church bells ringing and didn't see another soul on my walk.  Clearly the people are not early risers here.  The village is clearly being made ready for the tourist season as there are ladders around and people painting etc.   I have only seen the famous donkeys once and they were just being led in a line somewhere - perhaps their work does not start yet.

I went to the ancient remains of the village Akrotiri  which was  destroyed by a volcano in around 1500 BC.

Unlike the Palace of Knossos on Crete which is out in the open these excavations are under a roof.  The original roof was paid for by Aristotle Onassis  and when later needing renewal was paid for by the EU the Guide said.  These ruins are, I think, in more original condition than the ones at Knossos.  It was just breathtaking to look down on buildngs and roads that people would have walked on centuries ago.   One of the houses had a toilet which the young kids on the tour found hilarious.   This civilization had quite a sophisticated sewerge system it seems.

Today I have been to both the Museums here.  The first one had wonderful wall paintings from this ancient society - and lots of everyday items - what amazed me were the size of the coffee cups which were around twice the size of ours.  It wa also interesting to see the portable stoves and everyday items like pans etc.