Leaving London

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Trip Start May 16, 2006 Previous
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  London, United Kingdom
Thursday, May 18, 2006

It's amazing. We're capable of getting up at a reasonable hour if we get twelve hours of sleep. Who knew? We were actually conscious and showered and packed at nine am this morning, and paid the fee to leave our baggage at the counter while we went to wander around London. I would say "while we went to see the changing of the guard," but that sounds as if we're capable of finding a destination without seeing most of Westminster first. Future note: internet maps just will not suffice for London.

It's cool today and very overcast and windy, but no rain yet. After an hour and a half or so, we found Buckingham Palace and noted the location for later. (The Palace is perhaps a half mile away from the hotel, if that.) We stopped in a nearby cafe out of the wind for breakfast - the equivalent of seven dollars for a croissant and cappucino. You can tell we were by a tourist attraction. The wind is blowing some sort of seeds around that were making me sneeze like crazy whenever we were near one of the trees - they were like dandelion fluff or something.

Back to the Palace for the Changing of the guard. We grabbed a spot on the rim of the Victoria Memorial Fountain rather than fight the people by the gates of the Palace. We watched a school group try to throw each other in the fountain for awhile, then the first band came up the road. The Changing of the Guard today involved two bands, at least one rifle regiment, and some sort of mounted guard. It was actually rather brief - about fifteen minutes from start to finish, then the bands started sort of milling about inside the gates and playing a euphonium concert, so we ducked out the back of the crowd. I am kind of curious about the two people that ducked out of the Palace, left by one of the gates, then dispersed into the crowd without anybody really taking note. Who all lives and works in the Palace?

We stopped at Westminster Cathedral to take another look around in daylight and took the lift up the tower. It was so windy, we basically took a few pictures of the skyline and went back downstairs. Probably not actually worth six dollars.

After a relatively uneventful tube ride or two back to Heathrow (which we actually *paid* for this time), we found out our plane is an hour delayed. Plus, the line to check luggage is enormous, so I;m wandering while Sarah waits. (Where on earth is the apostrophe? I see no apostrophe on this keyboard. My little English major;s heart is hurting.)

We;ve liked London, so are pondering doing the UK for our next major trip.

ETA: Pics up! Samples here, full set at flickr, see link below.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Band at Changing of the Guard	Buckingham Palace	Cavalry at Changing of the Guard	London Skyline from Westminster Cathedral
Rifle Corp at the Changing of the Guard	Victoria Memorial	Westminster Cathedral

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