Bill and Jen's Adventures: Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey

Whew! It's been a LONG time since I had a chance to post and I am very sorry for the delay. November was National Novel Writing Month and I took every second of my spare time and poured it into attempting to write a novel. I completed the 50,000 words in November to "win" the challenge, but my novel still isn't completed. That, paired with the new kittens and getting ready for the holidays really put the blog on the back burner. But I am finally back!!

I'll start where we left off, in London with Bill's mom Beverly and Aunt Barb. On our second day we set up shop in front of Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards, something none of us had ever done before.

Waiting for the changing of the guard

We got a pretty good place at the front of the Queen Victoria statue and hung out for about an hour until the festivities began. It was a bit breezy, but for England, the weather was beautiful!

Buckingham Palace

The closer it got to the changing of the guards, the more crowded it became. I can see why they only do the pomp and circumstance every other day as the road were shut down and the number of police involved just to keep everything moving and tourists safe (I cannot tell you how many people we saw trying to climb precarious objects trying to get a better view), the cost of the one hour parade must be pretty daunting.

The guards are changing!

Behind us stood the beautiful, golden Queen Victoria statue.

Queen Victoria statue

It was really neat to see the changing of the guards, but it wasn't as spectacular as I was hoping. One marching band and a few teams of horses walking by and into the gates of the palace. But it is the romance of it all, I guess.

Horses!

Here's a short clip that I took as the marching band walked by.

Once the festivities were over, we headed over to the clock tower that houses Big Ben and had a good long look inside of Westminster Abbey. Sadly, we couldn't take photos inside Westminster Abbey, but we really enjoyed it. I think the scientists corner where Darwin, Newton, Faraday, etc. is buried inside the church is one of Bill's favorite places on the planet.