If It's Monday, It Must Be Buckingham...

At the Entrance

Sitting in Chruchills War Room Chair

I know it is still raining.  The men, Bos and Quinten, got up early to meet David, our guide, to take them to Churchill's War Rooms somewhere or other in the city.  This is the bunker=like location where Churchill and the Brits planned their defense of Great Britian during WWII.  And they came back so enthused, as Quinten got to sit in Churchill's desk chair, see his bedroom, see the maps of air bases where my father was stationed during the war.

On the "Scrambler" phone

Iris

And they met us at the "Behind the Scenes" tour of the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace.  We got a complete tour of the British Guards museum where we heard about the uniforms, start to finish, and then went up a secret stair to watch the event itself from a special vantage point.  Andrew, the museum curator, told us the changing of the guard would not take place if it rained and, of course, it was raining.  But the rain stopped for about 10 minutes and the ceremony began on schedule, although it began raining again promptly.  And once it starts, it keeps on going.  Andrew told us that each uniform cost 1500 pounds and the band leader's cost 2500 pounds.  And it is not JUST changing of the guards -- it is an entire band concert as well.  Quinten was so excited because they came out playing the theme from "Star Wars"!!  There were many tourists pressed up against the wrought iron fences outside the palace walls, while we got a really close view of it with continuing commentary from Andrew.  The soldiers are actually military combat troops and do their stint in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, so they do more than play music and march around.  And little Iris was trying to keep step with the soldiers.  However, they did dress her up in a red Guards uniform just for fun!

The Young Recruit

As it was continuing to rain, we high-tailed it back to our cozy apartment for the afternoon and took naps to try to dispel jet lag and followed that with a dinner at the BEST pizza-Italian food place in Kensington.  Loved it so much better than the fancy dinner that had been planned for us at a place called "Duck and Waffle" where the menu called for pigs' ears, offal salads, etc.  Dinner in England is much later than in the US; restaurants do not open usually until 7 p.m.  So we were lucky they found us the pizza place at 6, so Iris could get to bed at a decent time.  Frankly, us too!  And off to Hampton Court Palace in the morning.