A Banquet in Whitehall

| James I's Banqueting House palace, built in 1622 by Inigo Jones. |

2015 England Trip Travel Journal Entry

Saturday, March 14

We've finally made it home at a decent hour and had dinner, so while we watch my favorite Foyle's War episode ('The Funk Hole') I have unwound enough to do some journaling. So, Monday highlights:

We thankfully didn't do much, as we were recovering from Stratford. That was when we found an internet cafe to print out our 2-for-1 voucher for the Tower. It's on Little Portland Street, just off of Regent Street near Oxford Circus Station. We also printed our train tickets to Greenwich while we were passing through Victoria Station, which is the other part of the 2-for-1 offer.

We had a mocha and lunch at a Caffe Nero off of Regent Street, the chose to go to Banqueting House instead of the Tower, since we had somewhat limited time, and the Tower would probably take a good part of a day, while we only had a couple of hours.

This is the only room that was finished - but what a room!

We made it just five minutes before the last entry! It would have been most vexing to have missed it again! We had to rush through the audio commentary at the end, so it would be ideal to have more than half an hour. But what a sight!

Beanbags. :) The history of the Banqueting House was projected onto the walls.

The ceiling is absolutely majestic, making a strong statement on the Stuart kings' attitude toward kingship as a diving right. There were beanbags on the floor with people lying down to avoid getting cricks in their necks from looking at the ceiling. :)

The ceiling covered in paintings by Sir Peter Paul Rubens.

Apparently, where Charles I's portait hangs on the stairs is where a window used to be. He stepped out of that window onto the scaffold for his execution on that freezing morning of the 30th of January, 1649.

The infamous place on the staircase...

We walked down to the Houses of Parliament to go watch a debate in the House of Commons, but the guard told us that they only do guided tours on Saturdays. However, we realized later that people are allowed to go in at any time while the houses are in session to watch from the gallery. It was quite disappointing to miss going inside there again, but on the upside it does leave us something to do next time. :)

We strolled past Westminster Abbey.

The Whitehall buildings are even beautiful from the back!

Admiralty Arch

The ever majestic Houses of Parliament at dusk.

Instead, we walked on the paths behind the Whitehall buildings over to Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields Church so we could eat dinner at the Cafe-in-the-Crypt. We had plenty of time, so we hung around until they closed, got an adorable tea towel at Waterstone's on Trafalgar Square, and stopped for groceries on Brixton Road. It is very handy having a Sainsbury's, Iceland and Poundland just outside of the Brixton Tube Station.

Logistics: 

1. The Tube from Brixton to Oxford Circus Station on the Victoria Line
2. The Tube from Oxford Circus Station to Charing Cross Station on the Central Line
3. Head home on the Tube from Westminster Station to Victoria Station on the District Line
4. Continuing home on the Tube from Victora Station to Brixton Station on the Victoria Line
5. The 59/159 bus to our front door 

© 2015 Anna Morton