Day 2 London, England

Day 2

Oct 16/09

We decided to head to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. Instead of paying for the Underground, we decided to do the 45 min walk according to google from our hotel to the Palace. We walked through Hyde Park where we saw people riding horses and continued on to the Palace. At the end of the park we saw a procession of police on horses heading towards the Palace. We chased them for a bit to take pictures, but they were much faster than us. We arrived at the Palace 30 min before the changing and we stood with the crowd pressed up against the fence. Our view wasn't great but at least we were right up at the fence so we could see inside. It was an interesting ceremony for the changing of the guard with two marching bands and a lot of military commands being yelled, but near the end of it it was hard to focus. It was funny though that the marching band played ABBA music. I'm not sure if it was just to entertain, but it was funny to see the red coated black hat men playing Dancing Queen! Next we were off to see Big Ben. Only a couple of blocks away, we saw him took pictures and then moved on to West Minster Abbey where we thought it too expensive to go inside and continued on to the London Eye. Now we sort of regret not doing into the Abbey because one of Trevor's favorite scientists is buried in there (Sir Isaac Newton). We headed to the London Eye (a giant Ferris wheel like ride that takes 30min and you see views of London). It was a nice day so it was perfect for the ride. At this point my feet were not doing so well. Poor planning also meant I had no water and little to eat. We went on the ride and saw the amazing view. Next it was off to Trafalagar Square and the National Gallery. Inside the National Gallery we saw authentic paintings from Titian, Rembrandt, Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo! Though most of it was of Mary and Jesus, it was really neat to see. We also went into the National Portrait Gallery where we saw a lot of photos of British celebrities and a sculpture of a man's head made of frozen blood! Gross! Finally we decided to head home. We walked (and at this point my feet were on fire!) On the way we stopped into the National Geographic Store which was super cool and we saw Picadilly Circus, an area that looks like a mini version of Time Square. We walked down the main shopping street which was fully of cool shops and tons of double decker busses. We finally made it home and decided to eat at a pub next to our hotel where I had the fish and chips (a must in Britain). Then it was off to bed for the next day!