UK Trip: Day 6

Friday was a busy day.  While those back in America were doing their 6am Black Friday shopping, Steve, April, and I were back to checking off our list of places to see in London.  First up was the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which occurs at 11:30 am.  Every day during the summer, every other day in the winter.  It was quite the spectacle.

As we approached the palace, we saw that a crowd of thousands had gathered and the road was closed off.

We began to think that maybe something bigger than the guard change was about to happen.  We immediately texted Matt (at work) to let him know that Pippa Middleton was leaving the palace and the whole town knew about it.  Matt has a thing for Pippa, but I don't think he fell for it.

Turns out, all of this was for the changing of the guard.  The new guard came marching down the street (you can see the bearskin hats moving past the crowd):

The ceremony involved a lot of marching, shouting of orders, and the musical accompaniment of the band playing tunes from My Fair Lady:

And the old guard moves out:

When it was over, we walked across the street and strolled through St. James' Park.  This is a cute little 19th century cottage built for the bird keeper:

Next was an audio tour of the magnificent Westminster Abbey.  Thanks Aunt Becki for providing for the tickets!

Photography was not permitted inside, but we spent a long time in there.  It has been the coronation church since 1066 and 17 British monarchs are buried there.  If you want more information, you can follow the Abbey on twitter or Facebook (I'm not kidding!).

Then we wandered around trying to find the Imperial War Museum.  Mom and Dad paid it a visit during their trip in 2008, and Mom said it would be worth seeing.  I don't have any photos, but Mom wrote a bit about it on their blog/journal here.  I spent the whole time in the Children in War exhibit, and wished I brought along some tissues.  Now that I'm a parent things like this get me much more emotional.  While I was wrapped up in reading about black-outs and evacuated children and the Home Guard and rationing and torpedoed ships and gas masks and Anderson Shelters and having my mommy heart ripped out while I read childrens' letters and journals, Steve was able to walk around the tank/war vehicle display and the Holocaust exhibit.

Matt met us there after work and we traveled together to the Southbank Christmas Market on the Thames river for some dinner, Bavarian-style!


Incredibly big Bratwurst, anyone?

Hot mulled wine, beer, burgers with cheddar and chutney, cinnamon "chimney" bread, candy, a little holiday shopping...

Merry Christmas!