Following another proper English breakfast we were off to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard.  We walked up to the Palace and Smith spotted an empty spot along the barricade near the gate even though several thousand folks had already staked out better spots. I stopped to talk to a policeman.  It wasn’t a few minutes until I heard a collective gasp from the crowd then right there in front of Smith the Queen of England and Prince Phillip drove right past (see video below).  Timing is everything I guess!

Buckingham Palace

The old gal herself & Prince Phillip.

Here is the video.  You can hear all the excitement.

Once the motorcade pulled out there wasn’t a good spot left the view the ceremony so we walked up the street and waited for them to march down to the palace.  That ended up being a good move because they marched right past us without anyone in the way.

Guards on way to daily changing ceremony.

On the way over to the Churchill War Rooms we passed this neat little cottage complete with English garden backing up to a lake.  We were told it was the Hyde Park gardener’s cottage.

Gardener’s Cottage Hyde Park.

We toured Churchill’s war bunker and museum which were very interesting.  Churchill ran much of the war from these rooms particularly during the blitz and early years.  They were no more than basements under the government buildings that had been hastily re-enforced.  They weren’t really bomb-proof.  After seeing real bomb craters in Normandy a week later the bunker would not have protected Churchill from a direct hit.  It must have been pretty miserable living down there for any period of time.  But it was very impressive to see nonetheless and think of the history that was made there.

Cabinet room in bunker. Churchill ran much of the early war from this room. His chair is center on far side of room.

Lunch was at an old pub across from Parliament.  It had a bar and dining room on each of 3 floors – very British indeed.  We had the best fish and chips of the entire trip there although lunch cost us over $50 for 2 orders and drinks.

Big Ben (although technically it’s the bell inside that is really Big Ben not the entire structure)

Afterwards we inquired at Parliament whether we could peek in.  There were no crowds around so that kind of threw us – guess it was too boring for most folks.  So in we went to both the House of Commons and House of Lords. They were each in session.  It sort of like sitting in the galleries of our own Congress.

I lost track of time and we ended up missing the last tour of the day at Westminster Abbey which was a bit of a bummer.  However, there was a queue for the Evensong service so we joined and were able to attend that an hour later.  The choir and organ were beautiful.  They wouldn’t let us walk around on our own but we did walk right past Sir Issac Newton’s tomb. Cathedral’s in Europe are notorious for charging some fairly alarming rates for touring and they protect that jealously.  There is still no charge for praying but are no free looks around!

Westminster Abbey. We missed the tour but did attend the Evensong service.

That just about finished up our last day in London.  We stopped by Harrod’s food court to check it out.  I had always heard it was incredible and it did not disappoint.

Famous Harrod’s department store. Food court inside is unbelievable.