Part the Third: Some more Boxing Day places

I'm not going to write that much anymore - just way too much to do!

This is the Grand Entrance to Hyde Park. I thought that it was pretty grand, and very nice to look at. Just something we went past on our way to Buckingham Palace. Beside it is Apsley House - Wellington's Place.

Another thing we went past was St. James's Palace. We walked down St. James's Street because I wanted to because at one stage in history a woman wouldn't be caught dead walking, riding, driving or anything down St. James's Street. St. James's Palace is at one end of the street.

We were lucky enough to arrive at Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guard. We saw them come in, band playing, them walking behind and then the Horse Guards, and then I took this shot of them inside. The band continued playing, but turned it to a Christmas theme of Carols. It was very nice. And we got a good spot for it and everything without even trying!

A good photo of Buckingham Palace. This is the side most commonly seen by tourists, as it has also the Victoria Memorial/monument in front of it.

This is the Victoria Memorial/monument. We were heading towards St. James's Park from this area.

I'll put the rest of the photos up another time. Enjoy for the moment...

Boxing Day (Part Deux - for the second time)

This is the second time for this post...so I'm hoping that it works this time...

This is a photo of my loving and kind family (some of it) at Rotten Row. Rotten Row is a strip of dirt around the edge of Hyde Park (London, again...) where you can ride your horse. It's been around for centuries now. Peter is the only one acting 'rotten' - he is such a dear brother of mine. :) My Dad is in the middle of the photo, and Nat's Dad is on the right.

This photo is of the statue/memorial to the first Duke of Wellington, that great General that defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo, Belgium (yes, Waterloo is not in France). He did well against the Napoleonic forces in the Penisular War Era, too, promoting himself into the public eye with his outstanding use of the forces he had at hand.

This is the London residence of the first Duke of Wellington. I'm not sure (don't have my London book with me at present) but I believe that it is a museum these days and open to the public. I just thought that it was a very nice house and looked fairly imposing.

One amazing thing about England that was just weird to me. I didn't need to wear my sunglasses at all. I didn't in Paris, much, either, or Munich. The Sun, though bright, was not bright enough to require them. Winter in Australia must have a stronger Sun (thank goodness!).

Boxing Day (Part One)

One of the first places we went to on Boxing Day was the Marble Arch, near Hyde Park, London (just in case you got it confused witht he Sydney one, and was wondering what drugs I was on!). I liked my brother's explanation as to why there was a marble arch: they had some left over marble from completing all the other buildings, so they decided to make another monumental thing out of marble. I liked that one - thanks, Pete. It's a nice little arch, though, and worth just to wander and see it if you have nothing else to do (at 10 in the morning).

As you can see from the bottom photo, Peter (my brother), had a fun time trying to 'kick the pidgeons' while at the Marble Arch. Not really. He just likes chasing after pidgeons, still...Which shows you can never grow old from some things. Sorry, Peter - it was just too good to resist.

Christmas Eve in London, England

Dad and I got in to Heathrow Airport at about 7:15am on Christmas Eve. That afternoon Peter and Nat took me, Dad, Peter (Nat's Dad), and Kate (Nat's sister) to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Christmas Concert. It was very enjoyable to be able to go to the Hall, to see it, to be in it, after see it numerous times on TV.

Before the concert we arrived in time to take a few happy snaps of the Prince Albert Memorial (top picture) and one of the Royal Albert Hall (middle picture). As you can see in the top picture, there was actually some blue sky in ENGLAND during WINTER of all times! The bottom picture is one of the stage I took before the concert because I thought that it looked nice.

The musicians were dressed in period costume of Mozart's time (because they are the Mozart Musicians and Choir or something like that) and it looked really great and fancy. Wigs and all. They got us to join in for singing some of the carols which was fun because I was missing the Christmas Eve Carol by Candlelight at St. Stephen's (Martin Place) this year.

So, this was a wonderful treat on Christmas Eve, even though it was exhausting in some ways too.

Peter and Nat's Tree

My first picture from my holidays overseas, however, features my brother and sister-in-law's Christmas Tree. You can compare this with my tree lower down on my page, if you want. But, lucky them, they have a real one. Very pretty, I thought, Peter and Nat.