Of Cabbages and Kings... or Cathedrals and Queens...

Hullo!!! After a few days at the Archives, I was becoming a beary cross little bear so Mama took me on an outing. We were in the South Kensington area and had a look at a few places. It began bucketing rain so we took refuge in a few places... This is the Brompton Oratory - a bit cathedral with a dome. Mama has seen similar places in Rome and says they are beary beautiful on the inside.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside so... I nicked one off the web. They sure used a lot of beige and black stones in there. It wasn't what Mama and I expected. So, we scampered outside and raced next door to the Royal Victoria and Albert Museum (Beanie would be so proud!).

Whhhhaaaaatttt??? Whoa??? It was beautiful in there!!! This was the lobby space and it was all light and bright and the glass sculpture was amazing. Beanie had told me that is made out of a gazillion hand-blown pieces of glass!

Funny... the church next door was super dark and gloomy and this place is light and airy.

And the museum even had bits and pieces from various churches.

This is a lady lying down counting her beads...

The Royal Victoria and Alberta has way more to see than what we say but... both Mama and I were getting peckish so... we whipped through the giftshop and then headed out into the deluge again.

Can you guess what our destination might be??? I have to say... they don't seem to have little bear outfits for sale here in England. Usually in November, the latest winter fashion line-up comes out but I didn't see any!

But when we left Starbucks I saw something else... that red sign in the background... Can you see it?

Yup, that one.... It says... Ben's...

Ben's Cookies!!! I didn't know Ben had opened a pastry shop here in London!!??? Of course it wasn't really the Ben I know... but it might give Ben some ideas!

Righto... the rain seems to have tapered off so now are a few Tube stops away at Green Park.

Which is very close to....

Can you guess...??

Buckingham Palace!!!!

It seems like the statues have gotten some new gold leaf since last I was here. They look rather sharp and ship-shape.

Nobody was standing at any of the windows waving... drat... don't they know an little bear is here all the way from Canada??

The Guards were all dressed up for the rain as well.

This one decided it was time for some exercise at the same as his mate across the way.

They marched off towards each other,

There was a lot of saluting and heel stomping.

I think these two are the serious guards!

Well there you go... thought I might catch a glimpse of royalty but... no luck!

I saw the royal crest of arms on one of the gates - a lion and unicorn. I think, since the unicorn is long extinct, that the Queen should have a bear on her coat of arms. Just a thought...

Along the way, we came across a couple of strange emblems embedded in the sidewalk - this on is The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk.

And this one is the same but had another line which said The Canadian Memorial - Buckingham Palace. Interesting...

I wonder where they go??

Maybe we could go and find out??? But Mama said the weather looked to be threatening rain again sooo... nope...