We were lucky enough to have discovered that Buckingham Palace is open for tours during summer when the Royal family are away so I had arranged tickets from home. A quick underground trip brought back happy memories & took us to Green Park where we walked to the palace. Our tickets gave us entry first to the art exhibition featuring Scottish artists from the Royal collection followed by entry to The Mews where we saw all the carriages, stables & even a couple of horses. It was all very interesting but then we queued in traditional British style to enter the State Rooms of the Palace at the appointed time. The security checks on entry were quite time consuming & we shuffled slowly amongst hundreds of people through to the mind blowing opulence of the gilded palace. There is a vast display of the Queen's dresses & hats through her reign including the wedding dress & coronation dress but it was almost impossible to see because of the crowds. I was intrigued to see that both these dresses had colored beads & details from all the empire eg. wattle representing Australia & maple leaves from Canada. Of course there was no photography allowed inside but we'll remember this experience & feel so lucky to have seen those magnificent rooms. We thought we might climb to the top of St Paul's Cathedral but by the time we got there it was too late & there were many more hundreds of people so we gave up on that idea & strolled back past Australia House & happened upon the old Bank of England which is now a pub. I had wanted to see this site so we stopped for a beer & a rest...... London is great but of course it's crowded in August so we might give the big attractions a miss for the rest of our time here. We actually enjoy the back streets & the unexpected little places just as much!