London Trip - Day Five

We started our day (Monday, June 24th) touring Kensington Palace.  This palace is most widely known as being the Royal residence of the late Princess Diana and now the future home of the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge - William and Kate.

I didn't and still don't think the palace looks very palace-y.  It just looks like a huge mansion.  The palace has been home to various members of the Royal family since the late 1600s. The palace is made up of two parts; the state apartments which we visited and the apartments that are home to various members of the Royal family.

We were able to learn many interesting facts while going on several tours.  First we visited the state apartments that belonged to both Queen Mary II and Queen Anne who was the last member of the Stueart dynasty.  The saddest thing was learning that Queen Anne had seventeen children and she passed away without any surviving heirs, thus making her the last monarch of the House of Stuart.

Another our we took was called "Victoria Revealed."  It provided detailed information about both the public and private life of Britian's longest reigning monarch.  The dress pictured below is the actual black dress Queen Victoria wore during her first Privy Council meeting on June 20, 1837.  The black ink has faded and know looks light brown.

Here is the actual wedding dress that Queen Victoria wore when she married Prince Albert.  A bit of trivia - she was the first member of the Royal family to wear a white wedding dress.

After grabbing some lunch at Marks and Spencer, we took the tube to tour Westminster Abbey.  The church is absolutely beautiful inside and out.  One of the most fascinating things to me is this Abbey has more than a thousand years of history.  It has been the coronation church since 1066 when King Harold and William the Conqueror were crowded.  The construction of the Abbey that stands today began in 1245 by King Henry III.

Unfortunately no photography is allowed inside.  I know this sounds really corny, but while I was walking through the nave to the alter I kept thinking "wow, I think I would have passed out if I was Kate Middleton walking down this LONG aisle with tons of people staring at me!"

The north entrance of Westminster Abbey.

Directly behind Westminster Abbey is the Palace of Westminster or as it is more commonly known Houses of Parliament.  Neither Matt or I could get over the intricate detail of the architecture.

We all recognize this as Big Ben, but it is actually called the Elizabeth Tower.  The hands on the clock are fourteen feet long.