London day 4

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Well, another busy day with a lot of walking. It was one of those days where we did a lot of stuff, but didn’t spend a lot of time, so it was hard to tell. That’s how I prefer it actually; I’d rather do everything, even if only for a little while, then to spend too long at one place and miss out on something else.

Anyways, I woke up and showered around 7:30 this morning. We were up til close to 1:30 or something last night. We picked up some breakfast at the Tesco 24-hour mark. I wasn’t feeling so hot, but I picked up a chocolate croissant (₤.89), which ended up being a mistake.
We were a bit early on the metro, so we waited outside the Russell Square station until we could ride, and we were off to Green’s Park to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.

Green Park was really nice. I’m surprised at how many parks there are around. We saw 4 today. Anyways, we got to Buckingham Palace around 10:00, and the Changing of the Guard didn’t start til 11:30. This gave us a front row view, plus a pretty long time to sit around and rest our feet.

The Changing of the Guards was interesting. To be honest, I kinda expected something a little more… grandiose. It was a lot of marching around and about facing and the like. The Palace itself seems very nice, but we couldn’t go in at all. Bummer. It was funny to hear the Royal Guard band play the themes to Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. I don’t even think they played the national anthem.

From there we had to haul it to the London Zoo. This meant that we had to walk through Regent’s Park, which was very lovely, but VERY long walk. The park had beautiful fountains and shrubbery, and it seemed very nice, but I just wanted to get to the zoo. Finally, by the time we got to the Zoo Entrance, it didn’t seem like we could really stay. But we went in, using our London Pass (₤14.50), and asked for directions to get to Kensington and used their restrooms. We did, however, get to see a giraffe (♫Aint got time for nothin’ else).

We left the zoo from a back exit, and from there, we took our chances with the bus. Thank goodness we did, because walking would have taken forever. We took the bus to Baker Street, where we headed to the underground to Kensington Palace.

After a short walk, we made it to Kensington Gardens, and into the Palace (₤11.50 saved with our London Pass). We got little ear speakers for an audio tour included with the admission price, so we spent a long time there to listen. The Palace, of course, was really fancy, and there was a lot to see. I can’t believe people actually live there. We went around to all the rooms, and saw Princess Diana photos. The tour lady was really nice and gave us a special tour since we got left out of the group tour. Overall, the Kensington time was well spent.

From there, we caught another bus to Hyde Park Corner, so we could go to the Hard Rock. I bought Ben and Zuggs their pins. Then our London Pass got us VIP seating, which in London must mean “seating after people who walk up after you.” Buggers. Then we ate at the restaurant, which was a lot smaller than I imagined. I had the Herb Chicken w/mashed potatoes, and fries (₤11.45) still water with a souvenir glass, even though I don’t think that is mine, and we got a free sundae (₤4.45)with our London Pass. Hoorah!

Then, I finally got to fly my Kite at Hyde Park. Not much wind, but there was something. Finally, we headed back to our hotel. Our London passes are now done. I think we might head out to a pub or something tonight, because I really want to do that before we leave this town. But for now, here are the totals:
Total for the day: ₤30.89

Total “spent” with London Pass: ₤109.15
Total cost: 63.90
Saved: ₤35.25!

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Photos

Kite in Hyde Park
Flying my Kite at Hyde Park corner, London.

Our favorite guard
He likes to play with his mouthpiece.

Giraffe
at the London Zoo