Entered on 11 December 2002 at 8:48 a.m..
Back from Gallivanting
I'm back from gallivanting about London. Downing Street was pretty neat, we got to see the Prime Minster leave (before we were allowed in) and come back (just after we left). All in all we spent a little over an hour on the tour, half of it spent in the state dining room getting to ask some political staffers questions. They were a pretty nice set of guys. Afterwards one of them "toured" us around the building. He did a fairly good job considering, but often peppered his descriptions with things like, "... and it seems they really got in to gold leaf at one time, because just look at the ceiling." What was really great about No. 10, is that because it isn't normally open for tours to the public all of the antiques are in use.
There were some 17th century/18th century I will now try to remember what the guide called them Chip & Dale chairs in a Kennedy patern which we were able to sit on, and which are worth considerably more than any of us. Our guide told us that the people who kept the chairs in good repair didn't appreciate the fact that people were still allowed to sit on them :)
The downside to the trip was that our tour didn't begin until 1pm, but we were told to turn up at 12:15, so for 45 minutes we waited outside in the freezing cold. We all had numb toes by the time we entered.