...and then there were eight: London Day 2

We got up bright and early to take advantage of the free breakfast that is offered at the hotel, which was delish. We wanted to make it to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards which at the moment, is held every second day. We hopped on the Tube and walked over to the palace for a good spot to stand. Apparently lots of other people had the same idea.

We managed to get a decent spot at the fence behind a gigantic guy.

By the time it started, there were hundreds of people gathered around. I have to say that it was like standing around in a slightly controlled mob of people. A large amount of tourists were behaving like monkeys and climbing on the fence to get a better view, which was very irritating for the rest of us. The police would yell at them to get down but then it was always something else. So needless to say we didn't get to see much, and we left there grumbling about how rude people were.

On a lighter note, the Queen was there because the flag was waving high above the palace.

That's me wayyyy back in the picture. That would be the Canada Gate.

Sniffling Officer

View from where we were standing. This was pretty much the extent of it. There was also a marching band.

The guards that are in front of the palace are not just ceremonial guards but are also active in the service. They are known to be among the most skilled and elite in the British Army.

Different Regiments trotted by, which was by far my favorite part.

I'm not 100% sure but I think the soldiers featured in this picture are the Blues & Royals.

Among some of the others that can be seen are, The Grenadiers, Welsh, Irish, Scots, Coldstream, and Lifeguards. Some of their uniforms are so similar, making them difficult to discern. Its sometimes easiest to tell by the amount of buttons on their jackets.

Statue in front of the palace

Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to walk to the London Eye, through St-James Park. It was a really nice place with tons of gigantic birds.

We walked to Trafalgar Square, which is in central London. We didn't explore much here but it was a really cute place. The famous statue pictured above, is Nelson's Column.

We asked an officer for directions to the Eye, when we realized that it was probably still quite a ways away. He directed us nowhere but we ended up finding an Underground and found our way.

Mind the Gap is a popular warning here. I think the locals got pretty sick of hearing it, so we only heard it a couple of times. It was replaced by a series of beeps.

The Underground is a very old place. Its one of the oldest and one of the busiest railways. Its amazing how old everything is here. Canada is such a new place! There are so many lines that criss cross each other, and they have at times, crashed into each other. Kidding! Just checking to see who's really reading.

One station that needs a little updating. They weren't all like this, there has been lots of renovations in others (zombie not shown)

How awesome was the Eye?!? Its definitely a symbol of modern London. Its an impressive wheel equipped with "capsules" which takes you on a slow, panoramic tour of London.

We were so happy that we decided to go on such a perfectly clear day!