because i'm crazy and didn't plan very well, i flew from mallorca via geneva to london for just ONE night and am now back at heathrow for a flight to frankfurt to connect to tallinn - a LOT of walking thru endless airport corridors, exacerbated by a bit of WONDERFUL walking thru buckingham palace last night
we had a great curator of the royal collection who gave us details on some history and some of the incredible collection (impossible of course to talk about everything) - we were the only ones (about 30 of us in my group) in the palace by that time as all the day visitors had left - got to see rubens, vermeer (just 1), rembrandts, canalettos (canaletti?), etc. etc. up close with no rush
also saw the Wedding Dress and an exhibit on the making of the incredible lace on Kate's gown (of course the curator always referred to her as the Duchess of Cambridge), and the shoes, earrings, bouquet (replica), and the ACTUAL cake, with a small sword cut from William's sword - at the reception the guests ate another cake and so this one is still extant - 1 disappointment is the dress is behind netting, which the Duchess thought less isolating than glass - but it means you don't really get to see the texture of the fabric
at the end of the tour we were given a glass of champagne (J&B brand) and could take pix outside on the terrace - i will try to post 1 later today from frankfurt airport
THEN we were driven in a golf buggy back to the front gate where lots of tourists wondered who the hell these privileged people were, and let out by a bobby - to find a HUGE rainbow and the most gorgeous light from after a rain shower (it was about 7pm i think), with Big Ben bathing in a golden spotlight from the setting sun
more - from tallinn, estonia - in the next post
