The Queen says Hello!

Yes! We had a good night's sleep. Carol was out like a log the whole night (it helped that she had half a Gravol!) Up about nine am and out for brekkies to our favourite Caffe and then a cab to Buckingham Palace where we met J&J for our tour. We started with The Queen's Gallery where there was an exhibition of Canaletto in Venice. It was interesting to see Venice as it appeared in the 1700's and try to pick out where we might have been last spring. then on to The Royal Mews where the State Carriages are kept. The horses are now kept down the road at the Horseguard's Stables. Wow, we'd take one of those carriages any day over a Rolls. Our final inside tour was the State Rooms which surprised us by their human scale. Sure, they were elaborate in their decoration sometimes but we didn't feel overwhelmed by them as happens in Versailles for example. Very interesting. Then a coffee stop in the Garden cafe overlooking the garden where the Queen has her summer garden parties and where Carol wants to be invited to attend with her granddaughters! We finished with a walk around the gardens which are an astonishing 42 acres of peaceful green in the heart of London.
That all took over 4 hours so in order to avoid collapse from hunger we ventured into the first pub outside the walls, called the Bag O' Nails and had a great meal of lamb shank pie, wine, beer and cider. No we didn't each drink ALL of those. Each of us had ONE of those. Then a cab back to our 'hood and a walk of discovery in the twilight down to the Thames, past Admiralty Arch, Whitehall, Old Scotland Yard and the Horseguards stables. We are now back home, it's 9:20 pm and Carol is blissfully snoring away. It must have been the fresh air!
Hop on hop off bus tour tomorrow and then a search for the oldest pub in London. We might have to sample ten just to be sure we find the right one. Wish us luck!