Yesterday Stuart and I went on a glitzy Royal Day Out snooping around glitzy Buckingham Palace in London's glitzy West End.
In our ongoing task of 'being a tourist in your own town' we knew we were going to eventually have to take the regal plunge.
The Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace is an annual event that normally attracts swarms of tourists - mainly foreigners, but lots of Brits too - to the Queen's big house.
And you know what? It was OK. A bit pricey. A bit of a bun fight. We were herded like sheep. But it was fun.
First up was The Queen's Gallery. The current exhibition is Japan: Courts and Culture, featuring some of the most significant examples of Japanese art and design from the Royal Collection. There were some nice pieces for sure. Especially the armoury.
Then we visited The Royal Mews, which is probably one of the finest working stables in existence and responsible for all road travel arrangements for The Queen and members of the Royal Family. We saw some historic coaches and carriages, some cars, the new and very glitzy Diamond Jubilee State Coach, and of course the big old glitzy Gold State Coach.
Finally, we visited the magnificently glitzy State Rooms in Buckingham Palace itself. Used by The Queen for ceremonial occasions and official entertaining, each room is furnished with many of the treasures from the Royal Collection, including paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens; sculpture by Canova; and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world.
The special display was the Platinum Jubilee: The Queen's Accession featuring the first official portraits of the young Queen and items of personal jewellery. Glitzy. Very glitzy.
Our day ended with a walk through the famous Buckingham Palace Garden, with splendid views of the Palace and the famous lake.
We were a bit glitzed out by the end.
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