Welcome to my epic vacation recap! This is a recounting of my ten-year anniversary trip – which also happens to be my first time overseas! Read on for Day 4 – an all-day exploration of London!
June 23, 2024 (Day 4): ALL THE LONDON SIGHTS
While we didn’t have to rise at 5:30 AM, 7:00 still seemed far too early for how exhausted we were. But we had a tour scheduled to watch the Changing of the Guard outside of Buckingham Palace and there was no way we were going to miss that! So up we got, and back to the Tube (Seriously, I felt like I was back in DC with all this metroing!) We got there in time to do a frantic search for coffee shop and grab a breakfast burrito, and then hurried back to the statue where we were to meet our guide, arriving just in time to add our names to the “here” list.
That Changing of the Guard tour was probably one of the cheapest and yet most well-spent pieces of our trip. Yes, of course you can watch the Changing of the Guard for free…assuming you can get close enough. But our tour guide knew exactly where to get you when. She started us off by stopping at random parts in London and explaining history to us that, while fascinating, was also hard to retain because it was a FOUNTAIN of information. She paused by The Athenaeum Club, one of the most famous Gentlemen’s club, in the original sense of the word, not the modern sense, which means it legit was where men just gathered to talk politics and be gentlemen, which I loved seeing because members there included Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Winston Churchill!! Apparently there was like a 30 year wait list, so the tour guide told us that people would put their sons on it as soon as they were born in hopes they would get in.
Also, we had to skirt around one street because there was filming in progress. They, however, rudely neglected to put on all their signs WHAT FILM IT WAS! Don’t they know that tourists would like to know exactly what they are filming so that they can brag they were there at the same time? And maybe accidently sneak into the shot??
She also brought us by the statues for Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) and her husband, and told us lots of really interesting history that I wish I could have recorded because I forgot it by the end of the tour. One thing she DID say that Daniel remembers, though is that there are lanterns next to the statues that never go out in honor of the Queen and King.
Then she brought us to the street where the new guards would march up to take the old guards’ place, early enough that we all got a fairly good view, but as soon as the soldiers got close enough, she had us all begin moving so that we were basically in tandem with them until we got to a gate where it felt like half of London was trying to get through. Thank goodness for her big purple scarf and flag or I never would have found her again. There was literally no way for Daniel and I to stay together as we pushed our way through the crowd – it was just survival. Though I did have the unique experience of having an Asian man touch my shoulder possessively only to basically jump away when I turned to look at him and he realized I was not his significantly smaller, very Asian wife, who was just ahead of me.
I’ve got to give the tour guide credit though. By the time the entire group finally got through, we were just in time to see the old guard march up the street far closer than the other guard had been! And then, while they were still going through ceremonies, she led us up to another area where we had a PERFECT view of Buckingham Palace and offered to take pictures of us.
I thought she was done but instead she took us next to a random street corner where another guard literally marched so close we could have reached out and touched one of them! You know, if we wanted to die. Then she brought us in front of St. James’s Palace and told us stories about the queens who wanted to stay in Buckingham and the ones who wanted to stay at St. James but they had no choice and had to go wherever they were told, and we got to see yet another changing of the guard.
Note from Daniel: One of the Kings (I think it was King Henry the VIII), had six wives, and he was the one who built St. James for his second wife (whom he accused of witchcraft and had killed after only 3 years of marriage). But, our tour guide share a poem on how to remember what happened to his wives: Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. Dark, no? It was actually a recurring theme, the numbers of and terrible ways people died way back then.
After this, we walked to Trafalgar Square and got a picture next to the monument. It was difficult to get around there because there was a lot of construction and a concert going on when we were there. However, we found a lovely souvenir shop that actually had some really great gifts, which was great because we had been looking at gift shops for the last two days and hadn’t found anything that stuck out to us. We bought a detailed clock designed to look like Big Ben, which seems like the perfect souvenir for London.
We randomly stopped by The Sherlock Holmes tavern because we couldn’t pass it up even though neither of us knew it existed previously. Apparently we weren’t the only ones because every single table and chair was taken. But we stood at the bar and had a pint anyway. Then I insisted we walk a ridiculous amount of time to see the Savoy because, well, The Importance of Being Earnest. You know, where Earnest never pays his bills? I had to see it for myself.
The next couple hours were spent meandering near the Thames with random detours if something looked pretty or fun. For instance, Daniel found a random sushi place, and we ate in a beautiful little park next to the Thames River. And then we discovered that the Metropolitan Police Department had their HQ right on the river as we were walking towards Big Ben, so of course we got pictures.
It was so cool to see Big Ben up close! It would have been cooler if I could have gotten a picture without being run over by tourists, but I did eventually get one. It was less crowded when we went a little further on and I was amazed to realize there was actually a huge building attached to Big Ben! Both that and the Houses are Parliament (also along that stretch) were just gorgeous. They do not make buildings in America like those. Painstaking details were carved into everything and was more intricate than I knew a building could be. Westminster Abby was right next door, so of course we admired that as well, though we couldn’t go in since it was Sunday. They only let people in for services, and there was a line that stretched longer than we could see for that. But that was another building that was just an incredible testament to the British love of beautiful architecture.
It was getting late, so we tubed back to our hotel to drop off our backpack before going to Tower Bridge (they didn’t allow backpacks, and our hotel was right down the street, so it seemed easiest). We had a tour scheduled there as well, which let us go up and walk across the upper level of the bridge. The Thames was absolutely beautiful that far up, and they put in glass panels so that we could see far below to the street. People were laying all over the glass, trying to get pictures that looked like they were hovering in air. Daniel and I contented ourselves with just our feet. They also let us explore the pump rooms, which, although they are no longer used, are still kept in working order! Daniel geeked over all of it and I took lots of pictures in case I ever need it for research.
Right outside Tower Bridge was a stand selling roasted nuts, which we’d been smelling and craving all over the city, and another selling ice cream! We got both and sat looking over the Thames and Tower Bridge while we ate. Their ice cream is fascinating – it is far less sweet than in the US, but it comes with sweeter toppings, as well as something they call a “flake” which was kind of a semi-sweet crumbly stick of chocolate. It was also super light and airy. We regarded it as a unique food experience that we didn’t necessarily need to repeat. We then walked down the river again, and found and crossed London Bridge, because you have to, right? But, frankly, it was rather disappointing after Tower Bridge. It just looks like…well, a cement bridge.
By the time we got back to the hotel, our feet were killing us, but we finally got to eat at the pub across the street where we had more food misunderstandings. I ordered an appetizer that was essentially called Loaded Doritos. I was like, okay – I like Doritos. Having cheese and stuff on it will be good. Well, apparently by Doritos…they just meant tortilla chips and the bartender literally said “Aren’t they the same thing?” when we were laughing about it. Daniel ordered a steak for what he thought was an incredibly good price…only to have ham come out. And thence we learned that unless otherwise defined, if the English say steak, they mean ham steak.
Before heading to bed, we grabbed a drink at the rooftop bar of our hotel, because I wanted to look out over the city, and I would like you to know that I paid 18 pounds for a DRINK THAT CAME IN A PLASTIC BAG. I kid you not. I had never seen such a thing. And Daniel’s came with savory bites on top of it. Both were…interesting. But it was worth every penny for the view.
Step count: 23, 274
Forest Idylls 