St Paul Cathedral, Museum of London & Buckingham Palace - the Queen's Gallery


The Queen's Gallery, November 2004

I was all set to go St. Paul's Cathedral this morning. I knew I was taking a chance since we took a bus tour last night, and saw that the building seems to be blocked up for renovation. Also, I read last night that the church is going to hold a memorial for Sir Winston Churchill, which would make him one of the three non-royal Britons to be honoured, like Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington, with a state funeral. Nevertheless, I thought I would give it a trial. Well, the church actually was closed in the morning for special service. Of course, they did not tell anyone about the service. I only knew because I read the news online. It actually was not even mentioned on the TV, strange. However, the church would be open for visitor in the afternoon.

Disappointed, I took some photos around the cathedral, checked out Londonwalk, got advance tickets for Tower of London for tomorrow... Then, I decided that I will spend sometime in Museum of London, since the British Museum is a bit far. By the time I got to British Museum, I would probably have to get ready to leave to meet up with Lo.

It was actually a very nice museum. Admission is free, and it is just right for the short amount of time I could spend to refresh my memory of the History of Britain. I enjoyed the time in the museum very much. I had to stop at the fire of 1666 which destroyed 80% of London, since it was already 1pm, and I had to get back to the hotel to meet up with Lo. There was a lot of traffic during the lunch hour. It took me a long time to get back to the hotel. I was a bit upset with the whole situation, and took out my steam on Lo a little bit.

Lo decided that he wanted to go to Buckingham instead of St. Paul Cathedral. I actually wanted to go to the Cathedral, so that I can be in the church on the same day they had the memorial for Churchill. Well, it was not the end of the world. I went along with Lo's choice.

The palace was actually closed for tour now, since Queen Elizabeth II was actually staying at the Buckingham now. However, the Queen's Gallery is open for visit. Lo was not too sure he wanted to pay $7.5 each to go into the Gallery, but he decided to do that anyway. It turned out to be a good choice. All the exhibitions are part of King George III and Queen Charolette's collections. It is really a great experience to be so close up to the king and queen's personal collections. Through them, their kids' work, what they collected, you can really feel their presence, their personalities and values. I admired George III's passion for science, knowledge and architecture, and his passion in running the affair for the country and Charolette's attentive caring for her kids and her family. Objects displayed in ordinary museum or art gallery are cold, no matter how valuable they are. Objects in this gallery is warm, filled with love from this big royal family. They guides have to tell us to leave... The gallery is supposed to close at 5:30p. However, they started telling us to leave by 5:20p. Their excuse is that we have to pick up our clothes. I told them my husband is picking it up, so I can stay later. Then, they came to take my headset away. Again by 5:25p, the guy simply told me that he must insist that I have to leave. Well, I have not finished going through everything yet... But I have to leave.

It may not be all so bad anyway. We got to the shop, and I did some happy shopping!

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