Ruth’s Diary

We had breakfast at the hostel. After each one had a duty – mine was washing pans. Helen & I had a busy day ahead of us as we were to meet a group of her friends & spend the day with the. We went over to Buckingham Palace about 9:30 to see the changing of the guard. We met her friend Velma from Wakefield, & then Pat & Alice, & Elizabeth Shaw. An elderly man took it upon himself to explain the changing of the guard & took us to all the best vantage points to see the best views. It was interesting to see the new guard & the old guard facing each other in the courtyard & then the captains of the new guard receiving the keys of the captain of the old guard. Then the horse guard came down from ? (sic) & then the new guards went on to St. James Palace. It was a most colorful pageant, but one wonders at the value & purpose of it all. At the conclusion of this we went to Selfridge’s(?) for lunch, where I had my first ice cream soda of many, many moons. Thus revived we went to see the Wallace Collection – an excellent collection. We saw so many famous paintings that one could not take all in. There were Gainsboroughs, Rembrandts, Rubins, Tranz Hals, Corots, Millets, Boushers(?), Joshua Reynolds – I saw Hals’ the Henry VIII by Holbein. It was quite a come down to go to Mme. Tussaud’s wax works, but they were certainly interesting. (See guide book). The figures are certainly life like – so realistic that it gives one a queer feeling. We didn’t get into the Chamber of Horrors as Helen & I had to rush back to dinner & to dress for the theater. We had dinner at the hostel & then Florence, Helen, Harold, & I took a bus into Piccadilly Circus to the Globe Theatre. We saw Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. John Gielgud had the lead. It was very well done & every line was pithy & witty. I enjoyed it immensely.