And what a day it has been, the constant reminder today being our sore feet! Not that we are doing that much walking, well I guess we are but it is more about the standing around it seems. We have mastered the Underground with no episodes of going on the wrong train or going the wrong way. Tonight we had to resort to a Double Decker Bus ride as there was a problem with the Undergound. But Colin was happy with that as this was on his bucket list, along with a ride in a London black taxi. And yes it had to be black, not green, not white, not silver and most certainly not sign written. It had to be black. Even if this meant waiting for the right one to come along. However, I digress. Let's start at the beginning.
Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard was the order of the day, which you will already know if you read yesterday's blog. We had to wait until 11.30 am for the Changing of the Guard and it turned out to be quite disappointing, as unlike you see in the movies and on TV, you can't get anywhere near the guards or have your photo taken with them. Instead the whole ceremony takes place in front of the palace on the courtyard behind closed gates. In addition to that there were literally thousands of people there. We did manage to get a few (not very good) pictures by holding the camera above people's heads.
Keeping in mind those thousands of people all wanting to go through the Palace, we decided to go off to the London Eye first and come back to the Palace after that. The Eye was a great way to see the city from up high and the ride takes about 40 minutes.
It was after being on the London Eye that Colin took advantage of the opportunity to hail a black cab. It seemed to take an eternity to find one as all the ones that came along were the wrong colour or already had passengers. There is something about going in the traditional black cab according to Colin so a colored one just wasn't an option it would seem. As it was, the cabs they are using now are no longer the old ones with suicide rear doors and made from a collection of Austin/Morris parts, so they have lost some of that charm despite being the same general shape. Cool though riding around in a black cab in London!
So it was that we finally arrived back to the Palace to be greeted with long queues still. Colin was not to be beaten by this and after collecting our ticket we went to the front of the line and somehow we managed to seamlessly merge/push in. He's bloody cheeky but I'm not complaining because there must have been at least 300 or so in the queue.
No photographs were able to be taken in the Palace but it was fantastic seeing the glorious State Rooms in all their opulence. We had the free audio commentary again which gave you all the information about each room. The ballroom was truly magnificent and would rate right up there as a favorite but so too was the White Drawing room. What was even more amazing is to say now we have seen the exact table where Heads of State have sat being wined and dined by the Queen.
Following this we made a hasty journey back to the tube and set off for Harrod's. You could spend a whole day in here but sadly we are now out of time. At least I can say I have seen and been inside Harrod's too which was on my bucket list.
And so we come back to the start of the blog and the clothes are now in the dryer. Tonight we have to pack all our stuff as our bags need to be in the corridor at 6.30am, with a meet and greet in the foyer at 7.45am ready for our 8am departure.
Woohoo we are off!
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