London Day 2: Changing of the Guard, Buckingham Palace, Royal Parks

We slept quite well. Most of us went to bed around 8 pm. Me woke up at 9:30 pm, thinking she had had a good night's sleep. Turns out it was only a nap. Ha ha! She then slept until 7:30 am! WOW!

We ate breakfast in the room (croissants and fruit) before heading out for the day. U's step count was 24,691 (11.25 miles). It was one of our longer days....

We walked to the Eros Statue at Piccadilly Square where we met our London Walks guide, Rick Jones, for the changing of the guard tour. He regaled us with stories of London and its people. We learned that London City, where we were staying, is the financial district of London while Westminster is the governing center. We learned that King Charles III generally lives in Clarence House while in London. Queen Elizabeth II preferred Windsor Castle although she spent a lot of time at Buckingham Palace as well.

The Athenaeum. It is said that a Duke used to stop by to use its bathroom. When he was informed it was a club, he seemed surprised it was more that a bathroom and that he could join. Notice the frieze above the statue of Athena.

Statue of Prince Frederick, the Duke of York, the 2nd son of King George III. The guide said that they put him up high to help keep him out of trouble. He said that Dukes of York (i.e., 2nd sons of kings) often cause trouble. He definitely had a negative view of Prince Harry and Meghan.

Statues of George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

Sculpture showing King George VI and Queen Elizabeth out among the people during the blitz in WWII. They would visit areas that had been bombed to see what had happened and to help raise morale.

Watching the old guard march out. They were the Gurkhas which you can tell because of how quickly they play their music and march.

Buckingham Palace

Queen Victoria statue

The new guard marching in. This is the Grenadier Guard which you can tell by the song they played and the bearskin caps.

Megan, Me and Matthew

The changing of the guard ceremony within the gates.

The horse guard parade grounds.

The Citadel which was build for Winston Churchill to use during WWII. However, he preferred the nearby underground war rooms.

The white building is the backside of 10 Downing Street with a small green space to the right.

One of the horse guard, minus the horse as the stables were being repainted.

The clock tower of the Banqueting House in Whitehall with the iconic lion and unicorn.

Close up of the clock. The black spot at 2 indicates the time at which Charles I was beheaded in 1649 at the Banqueting House. He was buried at the church at Windsor Castle right in front of the altar.

The frontside of 10 Downing Street.

Statue of Charles I and Nelson's column at Trafalgar Square.

U, Megan, Matthew and Me with an iconic red telephone booth.

WWII Memorial

Me and Matthew heading towards Buckingham Palace for our visit.

No photos were allowed in the Palace. We toured around 14-16 of the state rooms. We did not get to see any of the 52 primary bedrooms or the 188 staff bedrooms. There are 775 rooms total! It was very opulent with some crystals on chandeliers being hand carved. They had a nice art collection. Banquets at the Palace take days to prepare for. Each place setting has 6 glasses!

Greeting people with King Charles III and Queen Camilla.

U, Matthew, Megan and Me on the grounds of Buckingham Palace.

Me and Matthew with the back of Buckingham Palace.

They don't want people climbing the fence into the gardens at Buckingham!

WWI Memorial

We wandered through Hyde Park a bit. We learned that all the parks in London are paid for by the Royals. Anyone else would have sold that land for the (considerable) money it would get them.

Fancy gate with unicorn and lion.

Hercules

Speaker's Corner. Apparently, these days it is used on Sundays so no one was talking when we were there on Monday evening.

Reformer's Tree Mosaic.

U and Megan in front of the old police headquarters.

We went paddle boating on the Serpentine which was enjoyable.

Matthew and Me started out powering the boat.

Matthew, U and Megan

We saw people feeding geese while we were paddle boating. The following conversation ensued:
U: Those people have a loyal following of geese.
Me: I don't know that it's that the geese are loyal so much as it is that the people have food.
Megan: That's why we follow you. Also because you have a map and you know where you are going.
U: And we have the money.

Cheese.

This swan swam beside us for a bit.

We paddled as far as the bridge that separates the Serpentine from the Long Water.

Kid power!

We saw a lot of birds!

Heron

Cormorants

Coot (U called it a skull faced duck)

Goose, coot and swan

Interesting duck of some sort.

We ate dinner at a restaurant in Hyde Park.

U and Me enjoyed fish and chips. Apparently they generally have mashed peas in addition to tartar sauce.

Megan and Matthew had kids meal pizza that came with yummy desserts.

U with the Peter Pan statue.

Matthew and Me with Physical Energy Statue.

Kensington Palace. Matthew saw it and wanted to get a closer look so we walked by it.

It's fall!