Okay I couldn’t leave London without doing a tour of Buckingham Palace. I had been staring at the advert on the tube for so many weeks and it finally clicked that I should get there before the summer opening of the state rooms was over.

Talk about getting in at the last minute! Today was apparently the absolutely last day that the state rooms were open. Thanks to a friend of mine, Carolyn, we were able to pre-book our tickets on Thursday with the minimum of fuss. For those in the UK for the long haul – so locals and ex-pats alike – paying to go into Buckingham Palace is outlandish and does not feature high on the to-do list. Let me say that at ?13 a head the Palace are not doing too badly!

Nevertheless visiting the state rooms is the done thing to do as a tourist so I was naturally up for it. After the initial herding through the various gates and waiting pens like cattle we were free roam the palace with audio headsets as our guides. You can’t deny that the Palace is beautiful but the opulence of the place is dazzling. Unfortunately I couldn’t take any photos inside (darn it) but I’m sure there is a guidebook that can be bought somewhere (yet more money for the palace) with more than enough photos in it to satisfy. The gardens are massive and ever-so gorgeous. I could have spent all day wondering through it.

Steps taken: 14,211