# 26 Visit Buckingham Palace

Part two of our trip to London on Saturday 12th September was a visit to Buckingham Palace and in particular a tour of the State Rooms. We booked our tickets several months in advance and choose an arrival time of 1.30pm.

The entrance to the State Room tour is on the left hand side of the palace through tents set up just for visitors. Not surprisingly we were guided through security before we could get inside the building. We were also advised that no photography was allowed on the tour so I've found a few photos online to remind us of what we saw.

Grand Staircase

Throne Room

Banqueting Hall

Obviously there were a LOT more people there during our visit! We were each given an audio tour guide which gave us lots of information as we visited each room and it was very interesting to see this inside of one of the world's most famous buildings. There were a number of displays showing how the castle worked, how banquets were planned, where the Queen's outfits are created etc. It was fascinating to read about how they organise the various functions they put on.

It took an hour or two to walk through all of the rooms open to the public (if only we could have looked behind some of the locked doors!) and at the end of the tour we were directed out of the rear of the building and into the gardens.

We couldn't actually walk in the gardens or on the grass but it was a nice walk along the paths and out of the exit at the rear gate.