I had to be in to the main tour office by 10:30 am. So. Early. Ok, I’m being dramatic. Although, That meant that I had to be on the UG by 9:40am. That IS getting pretty early ;) Early morning aside, we headed out to watch the changing of the guard.
Now friends, I have a sad story for you. Buckingham Palace is closed. You see, with the Jubilee concert just a couple days ago, there was still a huge stage left in front of the Palace. It took them 3 weeks to build it and they are attempting to take it down in 3 days. I think they are being ambitious, but then again, the Brits seem to be rather efficient. But I digress- point of all of this: I couldn’t get close to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.
But there is a bright side to the story! You may remember St. James’ Palace. Well, that was our first stop. We listened to a band play as the guards were inspected. We then followed them down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace (BP), but made our way back up to St. James’ rather quickly.
You see, they don’t JUST change the guard at BP. When the Queen is in residence (which she was today!!), there are also guards at Clarence house annnnd- St. James’ Palace! We went up and took the obligatory photos with the guards:
We were there for quite a while, but then it happened: the changing of the guard! It was neat, but not exactly as I pictured. The new guards marched in, shuffled up beside the ‘old’ guard, and then a man read them something (I suspect it was ‘Guarding the Royal Family 101’) and then the ‘old’ guards marched away.
My plan was then to head to Covent Garden to pick some goodies up at Lush, but I was distracted by pure beauty. No, not by Prince Harry, but by the National Gallery-I am in love.
I wish I had more time there, but I had places to be. The nice thing about galleries here is that they are all free! I took a very quick stroll through and treated myself to some Van Gogh, Vouillard, Degas, and Monet.
The Monet is one of my favorite paintings ever. I have a print in my room, but seeing it in person is a whole new ball game. If you love art, you know how amazing it is to see it in person- the strokes seem more deliberate, you can see every color vividly, you can see every stroke of the brush. It is a whole new experience. I highly suggest you folks check out a gallery and fall in love with art.
After I tore myself away from the Gallery, I headed down to Westminster Abbey (in the pouring rain). Obviously I got distracted again (oh look, something shiny) at the Horse Guards. I walked into the grounds where the ‘Trooping of the Color’ takes place(Queenie’s birthday bash). It will also be the site of the Olympic beach volleyball!
I tried (again) to get to the Abbey. I failed. I walked by the Supreme Court and they were having an open house so I stopped in. I like courts (so long as I’m not being tried). The security guards were hilarious but this post is getting terribly long so I’ll save the story for another day :)
FINALLY I made it to the Abbey! One word can describe this building- WOW. Honestly, it is stunning. I almost started crying when I was in there. All I could think about when I was in there was how much Dad would have loved it. It was huge and adorned, but the atmosphere really did make you feel like you were worshiping God.
Once an hour, they stop everything in the Abbey for a minute of silence/prayer. It was brilliant. Everyone, regardless of faith or lack thereof, stopped for that minute. It was amazing.
PS: Evan and Sarah- I saw the door that you folks snapped a picture of (the oldest door in England). I wanted to snap one, but I was too scared. You guys are such rebels.
After the Abbey, I met Melissa, Jaquetta, and Jane on Oxford St. We had hot drinks at Mamas and Papas before Jane (J’s cousin’s girlfriend) and I made our way to Primark. Primark = love. I found a cute jean jacket and some goodies for other people as well!
After a quick Pinkberry (yummy)- we headed home to watch the procession and relax.
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