Covid Test Fiasco, Royal Mews, Royal Guard Museum, Tate Britain, & Cream Tea
Monday, June 6
So the morning of this day was quite something. The Tube workers were on strike for the next few days. Luckily, I knew this beforehand and had tried to research how to get where I needed to be without it. Uber and another rideshare company called Bolt were on my radar to get to my pre-flight Covid test, which was scheduled at 8:00 am.
Knowing it was about a 20 minute car ride to the clinic, I tried to call an Uber at about 7:15. It should've left me plenty of time. Then I tried to schedule a Bolt. The apps just kept circling and circling. I decided I had to give up and try the bus system. I walked to Victoria station (which is a Tube and rail station, but also has a ton of bus stops).
The last time I rode a bus in London was in 2010, so I definitely don't count myself as someone who knows what I'm doing with it. Especially when there are no less than 10 bus stops and one million people who normally would be riding the Tube who now need a bus just like I do. This is part of the scene I descended on at Victoria station.
I eventually was able to gather from my phone which bus I should get on and which bus stop that bus was supposed to stop at. Looking back on this, I don't really know how I figured it out. I think I did ask someone at some point. There were a lot of police officers around because it was really chaotic.
The bus trip itself didn't actually take that long, but it was jammed packed with people with not one inch to spare. I did have to watch closely on my phone about when to get off the bus. If I had walked the whole way, it would've taken me more than an hour to get there, so I'm glad I got onto the bus! I ended up being 30 minutes late to my Covid test appointment, but I was the only person in there so it was fine.
Waiting on the results was perhaps the most stressful part. I had paid extra to get the results before the end of the day so that I knew before I went to the airport in the morning if it was positive or negative. I finally got the result at about 11:00 pm -- negative! The really cute part about the Covid test was that the requirement was dropped about a week after I got back into the United States. Fun.
So the plan after my test was to visit the Royal Mews, which is where the royal carriages are housed. The Royal Mews are "responsible for all road travel arrangements for members of the Royal Family, from horse-and-carriage to car and livery to harness." I had to walk to it from the clinic (no other option really on this day with Tube workers on strike). It wasn't a bad walk at about 25 minutes and through Green Park which is near Buckingham Palace.
This is right outside Buckingham Palace. There had just been all the Queen's Jubilee activities, so a lot of things were blocked off. This tree normally isn't there and is filled with lanterns that had been lit at night at one point.
I also got to pass by The Mall on my walk to the Royal Mews. This is where I had spent many hours a few days before. Totally empty this time! Buckingham Palace is way at the end of the road there.
Even after the bus debacle, I was bit early for my timed entry of 10:30 at the Royal Mews, so I stopped at a Starbucks for a croissant and a coffee. I usually try to avoid chains (unless it's a British chain!), but after the morning I just didn't want to think about anything. Charged my phone for a bit and still was kind of early. I arrived at the location at 10:00 and they allowed me in.
The first thing you notice upon entering the Royal Mews is that they were exercising some of the houses in the courtyard. It was exciting to see horses right away.
A very grand carriage is the first you see when you come in.
This is the Gold State Coach. This coach has been used in every coronation since the 1830s and King Charles will ride in it after he's been coronated in May. It's kind of hard to tell from the photo and video, but it is actually huge in size. I believe Queen Elizabeth was meant to ride in this at the Platinum Jubilee, but she didn't end up participating in the parade.
We got to go through some of the stable area and were up close to a couple horses, in particular.
This lad ended up brushing the horse for a bit after walking it in.
Felt silly having someone take this, but I had to!
I was pretty much alone during my visit, which was nice!
Below is the Diamond Jubilee State Coach. The Queen rode in it several times for different functions, including to open Parliament. The King and Queen Consort will ride in it to Westminster Abbey for the coronation.
Overall, there were probably 8 royal carriages to look at. It took about 45 minutes to get through the Mews and I enjoyed my visit! Would recommend for anyone interested in history or the Royal Family. It was neat to see the behind-the-scenes.
I definitely had other plans this day that I couldn't implement given that the Tubes were down. I think I had planned to go to the Tower to see a wildflower garden in the moat, but that is definitely too far to walk and I think I didn't want to negotiate the bus system again knowing how busy it would be. So... I didn't end up really having a plan after this.
I just started walking. I saw a sign for the Royal Guards Museum and decided to go in. It was... cute. It cost £8 to go in and it wasn't worth that haha. It definitely needs a face lift. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood to read or take in much, but it didn't take me long to walk through it. It certainly is a homegrown type of museum. I did like seeing all the different types of military outfits.
I walked by Big Ben...
Looking good with the bandages off, buddy.
I kept walking kind of along the Thames and decided to go into the Tate Britain, a free art museum. I'm not an art museum person, but I had time and it was free.
Me after I finally got to the Covid test clinic this morning.
I had cream tea on my brain since I hadn't had one in a while and I was trying to go somewhere nearish to my AirBnB. I ended up on the other side of the river at Tea House Theatre. It was a cute place and very not busy which is preferable.
Well-worn tables, mismatched tea sets. Love it. The only bad part about this place was that they were out of clotted cream. The woman said the whole city was out after the Jubilee celebrations. They must just buy clotted cream from a distributor; home made is always better. They gave me cream cheese instead, which actually wasn't bad. But I wanted proper clotted cream! Oh well. I liked the sweater on this teapot.
Once cream tea was done, it was about dinner time so I headed back towards my AirBnB on the other side of the river and went into a Pret A Manger, which is very much a fast food chain -- a deli kind of place. I got a chicken, bacon, tomato sandwich and some chips. It was good!
I was ready to head home at this point! I was a bit worried about getting to the airport; again, no Tubes running really complicated things. But I researched buses and knew exactly what stop to get on near my AirBnB and all went off without a hitch.
