Each night before our heads hit the pillow, we would review our "notes" for what we hope to see and do the next day so that we could do any last minute research on the laptop, to figure out which line we needed to take on the Tube, etc. We would re-adjust plans and go to bed excited about what the next day would hold. Today was no different. We still had a list of things we hadn't seen or done so again, we hit it early though no alarm was set in hopes we would sleep a bit longer. We heard from so many that even though seeing the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace was neat, if you really wanted to get up close to a Guard Change, to go to Whitehall and see the Changing of the Horse Guards. We headed out, had a little breakfast at the Pret before heading to Whitehall.
I had me a little "porridge"! Seems like the London thing to do! :)
Sorry, terrible px, guess I needed to eat my porridge instead of posing with it! :)
Actually it was quite tasty and we enjoyed another cup of coffee before getting on the Tube.
Once we arrived, we had time to walk around and just take in all the lovely buildings,
see the London Eye and enjoy the Thames.
When we were looking around we came to Whitehall Gardens and I found my London Home...
in case I should ever decide to buy one. :) Here is a quick look at it....
We walked across to Whitehall (side note: the large lot in front of Whitehall is where the
Olympic Volleyball Games will be held). We got there before the ceremony begin so we were able to get up close to the guard on duty and take a few pictures. Our grandsons really wanted us to try to make them laugh...but it didn't happen!
Beautiful horses and very near ceremony
It's crazy how this ceremony happens every day!
We started walking down through the Royal Court Area, and found a really amazing tiny Italian Sandwich Shop that we grabbed a sandwich, a apple tart and walked outside to eat. It was pretty funny, Larry loved his sandwich so he went back in and bought him two more! :) That is my boy! I even let him finish mine...though I did think it was so delicious I just couldn't wait to get to the Apple Tart! It was so good. All their bread was homemade and it was good crusty bread. So yummy.
We had fun just watching people and I had fun looking in all the windows! I predict these fun men's socks will be making there way to the U.S.A., in a big way! How fun are these!!!
It was fun to take a little bit and just walk up and down some of these amazing sites...
and we saw so many pretty buildings...the detailing and the history just blew us away!
It just doen't run out of amazing sites! And we couldn't quit walking and searching them out!
We then headed to the National Gallery. What is so wonderful in London, most of the museums are free! Isn't that nice! Of course, we could have spent the ENTIRE day there but we just went in, checked the map and picked the art we really wanted to see. I had promised the boys I would look for some the the artist we has studied this year in Art School. Of course no pictures allowed here so the only pictures if have are from the outside. We also stopped in the Museum Shoppe and I found a few items for Honey's Art Institute for next year!
I loved the two sculptures at the entrance. The horse with rider was done when it was built but then they didn't have the money to get another one done so the guide said that they let different artist do a sculpture for the other base. I loved the one they had up when we were there. It was of a little boy on a rocking horse! Pretty cute to see it next to a grown man on a horse.
The Museum was beautiful and like I said...wish we could have had a whole day to walk around.We again, past a lot of beautiful sights as we headed next to St. Paul's Cathedral.
We regret not that we didn't take the tour. We spent a bit of time just walking around the outside, taking pictures and even taking a break like so many on the steps...next time we will go in! The lines were long and we still had other stops...I can't imagine how pretty inside was if this is what the outside looked like!
I took this picture just to show how HUGE the columns were...just look at the man leaning against one of the columns at the top of the steps...MASSIVE!
Then it was time to hop on the lovely little bus again and head to Tower Hill...
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