We now know the secret of seeing the famous changing of the guard. Don’t go to Buckingham Palace. We did a tour instead and it was terrific. I knew that if we went to the Palace, Nora would be able to see anything, so I found a group tour on London experiences section of Airbnb.
We started at the Victoria Theater and passed by the Palace.
After a quick stop for pictures, we headed to Wellington Barracks (down the street from the Palace) where the guard lives. We hung out for a little while listening to great stories by our guide, Carolina, until the oncoming guard started heading out of the Barracks.
Next, we went to a spot where the small group of guards was going to protect Clarence House, which is where Charles and Camilla live. Charles never liked Buckingham Palace and doesn’t want to live there.
One of the reasons Charles likes Clarence house is that it’s far back from the street and very secluded. I couldn’t get a picture of it so here’s one I found on their website.
As we were waiting for group heading to St. James Palace, we saw another small group of horse drawn carriages and the royal car.
At first Carolina thought it was Charles on the move, but there didn’t look to be anyone in the car. The Trooping of the Colors (the official celebration of the monarch’s birthday) is on Saturday so she thinks this could have either been a rehearsal or them bringing the Royal Jewels to Clarence House.
Around the corner from Clarence House is St. James Palace which was built by Henry VIII for his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Unfortunately, in the 7 years it took to build it, Anne lost her head and never set foot in it. Now it’s the residence of Princess Anne.
This is the oncoming group of guards heading towards the Palace.
This was the out-going group heading away from St. James Palace. Because they’re now off duty, they march silently without music.
Then we headed through beautiful St. James Park.
The park was built by Charles II after the reformation. Countries started gifting Charles animals, so he ended up with a zoo. The only ones left are the pelicans. Not the original ones, obviously, but pelicans that are still gifted by the Russians. The story is that every 100 years the Russians donate 2 pelicans to the monarch. Well, in 1961, the U.S. decided to do the same. Except the pelicans we donated were the kind that were very territorial, and they started fighting the ones the Russians donated. The press had a field day with that, calling it a Pelican Cold War.
The tour ended at Palaces of Westminster and Big Ben.
So, it turns out that the Changing of the Guard is way more than the guys inside the gates of Buckingham Palace. If you’re ever in London on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sunday, I highly recommend taking this type of tour. It was fabulous and we learned a lot.
From here we went across the river as the girls had tickets for the London Eye. I had done it in 2002 with my mom, and not being a fan of heights, decided not to do it again. But the girls had a great time.
We had lunch at my favorite London restaurant, The Red Lion. It is only about a 15-minute walk from the London Eye and the food is delicious, so it seemed the obvious choice. Christina tried my favorite steak and ale pie while the girls and I had fish and chips. We were so hungry I forgot to take pictures, but I did grab one of Nora digging into her kids portion of fish and chips.
After going to Oxford Street to look for gifts we headed back to the hotel. I stayed home while the girls went back out to Hyde Park, just a few Tube stops from here.
They hung out at the Princess Diana Playground.
Then walked to the other side of the park where they found the Prince Albert Memorial. Peter and I visited here in 2022 and I know how far they walked. I would have never been able to keep up as I had over 13,000 steps when I got back to the hotel.
And, finally, they stopped for ice cream…..WITHOUT ME!!! Not very happy about that.
I don’t think they’re back yet, but I’m hungry, and since they filled up on ice cream, I don’t think they’ll want anything else. So, I need to go out and find something to eat. It’s after 7pm so it probably won’t be anything heavy, maybe just a sandwich.
Tomorrow we’re hanging out on the other side of the Thames, starting with Shakespear’s Globe Theater. We didn’t make it there in 2022, so I’m glad I’ve got the chance to see it. Night everyone.