Summer in London gave us a(!) good sunny day, so we maximised the opportunity and headed off with the intention to see one of the things at the top of the list, the Changing of the Guards. Normally it is hard to see the Changing of the Horse Guards (down at Whitehall) and get to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace as they are only 1/2 an hour apart, and a wee bit of a walk, but Sunday allows a much more sensible 1 and 1/2 hour gap.
Horse Guards - Just down the road from 10 Downing St is the Horse Guards. Changing of the Horse Guards was a small affair, due to the Queen not staying in London, so it was a bit underwhelming. Some tourists were a bit cheeky, feeling the bearskin shakos of the guards and rubbing their backs. Probably not a wise move, given their weaponry.
Changing of the Guards - Lucky for us the short Horse Guard changing allowed us to get to Buckingham Palace with an hour to spare. We certainly needed that time to get a prime position, right on the pavement where the new and old guards marched past on their way to and from the 'changing'. Had we been much later, we would have lived up to the Lonely Planet saying - if you are lucky you will be able to see the Changing of the Guard behind 5 or 10 rows of people! I think next time we would try to get a place up against the railings so we could observe the actual changing inside the gates.
The soldiers that guard the Queen, while maintaining the traditional uniforms, do have a touch of modern warfare with their sub machine guns, as opposed to the Horse Guards with their sabres. We were quite impressed with the police, who really stepped up their tourist herding about 45 mins before the Changing, constantly admonishing those climbing the Queen Victoria monument for a better view, and reminding people to keep their eyes on their valuables, and all the time remaining calm about those trying to walk the wrong way.
During the Changing, the brass band played a range of classy musical arrangements, including some more modern pieces, all very entertaining. We were glad to have done it and experienced one of the quintessential tourist experiences.
Other bits and bobs from Londontown - The von D parents stopped into London for a few days at the end of their trip. We enjoyed a trip to Hampton Court (and we signed up to be members of the historic places trust which gets us unlimited entry into 5 royal palaces for the next year, we’ll definitely make the most of that).
We also went to the musical Wicked which was the best one we’ve seen so far. Not far behind was Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat! Lou took some time off work and joined her folks at St Paul’s cathedral, with the amazing whispering gallery (you climb a couple of hundred steps in the dome and can whisper against the wall – the acoustics are so good that the whisper can be heard clearly from the other side of the gallery), the Victoria and Albert museum, and the Transport museum. Lou also went on an evening Jack the Ripper themed walking tour.
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