royal mews | DAVID'S PHOTOGRAPHS

Day Five of London! Yes, I am posting the blog a bit late… but I did take the pictures! I was so exhausted last night… here’s why:

We got up around 5:30 am to get ready and catch a tour bus to see Buckingham Palace. Very exciting… Little did I know that we’d ride around for 2 hours picking up other guests and then head to the train station to catch the REAL tour. Things you learn. Either way, we headed out on a short bus ride of the city. We had a chance to step out and see Parliament, Big Ben and the Westminster Abbey. From there we visited the Horses Guard which is another guard of the Queen.

Afterwards, we went to Buckingham to see the Changing of the Guard. We didn’t have a great view because it was SOOO crowded, but we’re going back tomorrow to visit again. We did go into the palace as it’s only open for 2 months of the year while the Queen is away in Scotland on Holiday. It was GREAT to see the palace! We saw the throne room, lots of drawing rooms, etc where the royal family entertains guests. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, no photos. 😦

We did stop to have lunch at Buckingham in the Garden… quite lovely as the Brits would say. From there we visited the Royal Mews, where her transportation is taken care of and several staff members live on site.

On our way down to Westminster, we walked through St. James Park, which was gorgeous… tons of wildlife walking around, people relaxing, nice greenery and water. At Westminster Abbey, we decided to take the tour and that was amazing as well… Beautiful and TONS of royalty buried inside — Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Henry VII, Edward the Confessor, etc. Also, several other celebrities such as Shakespeare and Handel either are buried or have a monument to them in the church.

We then met Shane and Jule at a local pub to have some burgers and beer. Yum. LONG DAY. Now for another…