Today we have a full day in the city. First stop is King’s Gallery Buckingham Palace to see the Queen Elizabeth dress collection.

We found our way there fairly easily. There are two tube stops close to our hotel on different lines so we have a couple of options for wherever we are going. However the one we chose this morning was closed so we had to walk on up to another and make a change we would not have had to make but it worked out in the end.

The exhibit was fabulous. They started with her christening gown and went up through the years. Her wedding and coronation gowns were both on display as well as the blue dress she wore to her sister’s wedding. I had no idea the details on these gowns. Pictures do not do them justice. There was also a lot of her just every day dresses and hats on display. If you are in London before the exhibit leaves I highly recommend it.

From the exhibit we wandered in the area and headed to our Sunday roast at Buckingham Arms. It was delicious but there was no air conditioning and it was rather hot so we didn’t linger.

Sites we saw around London waiting on our lunch.

We were close to Whitehall so we stopped in to see the Banquet House with the Rubens paintings on the ceiling. It was a very nice stop. Hardly any other visitors so we were basically by ourselves. The ceilings are amazing and I felt like I was back in Italy. They provided magnifying mirrors which made it so easy to view the details without straining your neck. A nice detail I wish the Sistine chapel provided. There was a small display area in the under croft (basement) but they didn’t have much to see but did have a layout of the original castle. It now makes sense where things like the mews and horse guards are. They were placed around this castle not Buckingham.

We got back to the hotel to get ready to go see our Shakespeare play at the Globe. It was not far from our hotel. Just over the bridge then down about half a mile so we just walked. The theater is open air so it was hot and muggy. I had bought us seats with cushions so at least we didn’t get wet. We saw Love’s Labor’s Lost. There was a lot of flamenco dancing and comedy so it was really good. can’t say it was comfortable even with the cushions but I am glad we did it. I would suggest only doing this in cooler weather. Not sure how people make it in the summer.

We walked by the original location of the Globe Theater on our way back to the hotel and another day in London was over.