A London Tourist

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This morning we took the overground train to the city to see the changing of the guards. Arriving two hours early, we managed to get the last spot left along the fence and sat down to wait. Em was really great at waiting with us – until the important bits of course. The actual changing is more a battle of the bands than anything else. The old guard band comes in and plays a tune or two. Then the new guard band marches in and outdoes them. They take turns for about 20 minutes before the new guards send two guys over to take over from the two old guards in their positions. The bands play a couple more tunes then everyone marches out and off down the road leaving the two new blokes standing in front of the palace. It was a bit surprising that the two different guard units have different uniforms. The traditional red coat and tall furry hat is only one unit while the others wear all black with a pointed white helmet. I’m not sure why this is such a huge tourist attraction, filling the entire area and around the big fountain with people…

We had booked the London Eye for 2pm so we walked over to pick up the tickets at the electronic stands. We were a bit early so we had lunch at the nearby fish and chip restaurant – if Britain is the home of fish and chips, they still haven’t got it right! We have tried a few times now and the chips are always terrible and the fish ordinary. Maybe we are spoilt in Australia… I think they just need to make sure the oil is hot enough before cooking.

We boarded the eye and began the ascent. The capsules offer spectacular views over the city and you can pick out all the major buildings with help from the ipads mounted inside. At the top the wheels stopped and the intercom announced there would be a delay to deal with an ‘incident’ on the ground. Oh well, a bit longer ride for us! It was apparently all sorted out and we descended and got off with no trouble. There is a climbing playground nearby and we wandered over but it was really for the older kids so we got back on the tube and headed for home.

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