Amelia Haylor

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace

          As planned, Alfred and I did get to Crystal Palace early; we left Mrs Crewe's house at eight and arrived there at nine. When we arrived at Crystal Palace I could not believe my eyes; the building was the biggest and widest building I had ever seen.

          "Crystal Palace is as big as Buckingham Palace!" I said.

          "They say it is 1,851 feet long and 128 feet high" Alfred explained "built here in Hyde Park in 1851".

          The inside looked magnificent; there were exotic trees and flowers all around. What caught my eye was the most beautiful and enormous water fountain at the entrance.

          "That fountain is all made of glass" Alfred said.

          "They did a fantastic job with building this place" I said.

          "So which exhibit would you like to see first?" Alfred asked.

          "This is my first time being here, so anywhere is fine" I replied.

          Alfred took me on a wonderful tour of Crystal Palace. The exhibits we saw were magnificent. First we saw the exhibit of Rome. There were models of the temples in Rome and a stone pillar from an actual roman temple. Next was the Egypt exhibit with its sphinx. Then it was India with its big stuffed elephant wearing a coat embroidered with pearls, rubies and emeralds. Then it was China with dragon statues, Italy with a model of the leaning tower of Pisa and Greece with statues of Greek legends. We even saw a dinosaur exhibition. The dinosaurs did give me the creeps a little, but it was still a nice exhibition.

          At noon Alfred and I stopped at Crystal Palace's cafe for tea and sandwiches.

          "What do you think of Crystal Palace so far?" asked Alfred.

          "I think it is the most wonderful place in the whole world" I answered "oh that reminds me. You're mother told me last night that she brought you here once".

          "It's true she did" said Alfred "my Mother always took me on outings whenever my Father and Brother were busy. But Crystal Palace is my favourite place to go to".

          After we finished our tea and sandwiches, we continued touring Crystal Palace. First we saw the diamond and jewel exhibit. The diamonds were big and were in the colours of red, green, blue, yellow and transparent. The jewellery in there was beautiful as well; necklaces, rings, earrings and tiaras shone like diamonds. Half of the jewellery was gold and the other half was silver. Both of them contained diamonds as a decoration.

          Next was the machine exhibit; it held inventions and machines. There was an invention that printed words onto paper, an actual steam engine, a fire engine and an invention that made envelopes. "Science sure is clever" I said. "I agree with you" said Alfred "if science didn't exist we would never have had all these machines".

          After the machine exhibit was the silver ware and china exhibit. The china was white and the plates had different pictures on them. Some of them had stories of lovers or stories of heroes battling monsters and the rest had pictures of creatures like fish or birds and flowers. The silver ware was beautiful; the most beautiful I had ever seen in life. It made me wish that our knives, forks and spoons at home were silver as well.

          The last exhibit we saw was the stain coloured glass window gallery. The glass windows were beautiful with their colours of red, green, blue, purple, yellow and orange. The sun shone brightly through the windows, showing off the window's beautiful colours. It was like being inside a rainbow.

          Soon it was nearly time to go home. "I feel like we have travelled the whole world in just one day" I said. "I always feel like that too" said Alfred "would you like a souvenir from this place?" There was a souvenir shop near the entrance. It sold thimbles, pipes, fans, cups with saucers and jugs; all with a picture of the Crystal Palace. I chose a fan with a picture of Crystal Palace on it. "This way I can look at Crystal Palace all the time when I use this fan" I said.

          After buying the fan it was time for us to leave and go home. "Pity that today went by so quickly" I said "even though we have been here for eight hours, it feels like we have been here for only eight minutes".

          "Ha my mother said the same thing when we came here together" Alfred chuckled.

          "Thank you for bringing me here today Alfred" I said "Crystal Palace was wonderful".

          "I'm glad you liked it" Alfred replied with a smile. We went home by horse and cab.

          As soon as I got back to Mrs Crewe's house, I told her and Mrs Stowner all about it. "I told you that you would love it there" said Mrs Crewe "and I'm glad you are having a nice time with my son Alfred". "I have to say Mrs Crewe" I replied "I find Alfred very good company". The thought of Alfred always made feel warm and happy inside. At that time I realised that I had started to fall in love with Alfred. But did he have the same feelings for me I wondered?