London - day 3

Friday, October 2

Standing in Trafalgar Square - the arches lead to St. James park.  The square was under construction everywhere so we didn't linger. St James Park is lovely and the gardens are just gorgeous.

Buckingham Palace from St James park

Dan's focus this morning is to get to Buckingham early enough that we can get a good photo place for the changing of the guards. He kept rushing me through the park!  We got to the palace about 10am and the area was starting to fill up but it was nothing compared to how crowded it finally got.

The new guards arrived around 11:30 and the whole ceremony took about 40 minutes - 40 long, boring minutes to me.  However, Dan loved it.  I couldn't wait to leave.

Had lunch at the Grenadier, a pub originally built to feed the queen's guard soldiers - Dan had the best beer of the trip - a Wodehouse Wherry.  Then, the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral.  We couldn't take photos inside, but it is definitely another beautiful church.  One of the 50 London churches designed by Christopher Wren, it is the second largest domed cathedral after St. Peter's in Rome.

We didn't climb the dome levels, though I wish now that we would have.

The cathedral from the Millenium bridge.

The Shard building in the background.

On to the shopping / eating area called Neal's Yard. Found it online and was surprised it was so small. We passed through and took a few pictures, then went to dinner and home to do laundry.

A busy but fun day -