Day 2 - all the official things

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Today we planned to do many of the touristy things. We started out with a changing of the guards tour. While it’s definitely an option to just go watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, we did a tour which took us to several different perspectives.

First we started at St James Palace. This is the senior royal palace where key events, like the pronouncement of the queen’s passing, takes place. The old guard came out and this time, they were a regiment from Nepal, the Gurkhas, they rarely have the opportunity to be the palace guards so it was a bit unique. From there, we marched with the military band to the Wellington barracks where the new guard came out. These were the traditional bear skin hatted grenadiers. We didn’t see much of the ceremony in front of the palace but it was fascinating to see all the different components. We did get to see Buckingham Palace a bit though.

From there, we walked through Green Park to the Churchill War Rooms. It was fascinating to see the spaces where people actually lived and worried during the war. It was easy to imaging being trapped down there in the smoke filled warren while bombs dropped overhead.

From there, we went over to Westminster Abbey. We were amazed bc at all of the famous bands we recognized buried there - Darwin, Keats, and Dickens - not to mention all of the kings and queens. We saw Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots among others.

After that, we walked to Big Ben and marvelled at the parliament building. We hopped on a tour boat and rode down the Thames to cap off the day.

We had a nice dinner at the hotel and are calling it a day! Exhausted / we walked mire the 9 km today!

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Photos

Changing of gusrd.
The ones in green are the gerkhas.

Coronation chair
This is the chair, used since the 1200 for all cori can

Union jacks.
Union jacks lined the flag poles since the queen’s funeral.