Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, The British Museum- Day 21

This was our last full day in London before heading home, me to Virginia and Dad and Grandma to Utah.

We decided we wanted to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace this day. Since we were staying a little outside London, we had to get going pretty early to make it there on time and to save us a spot to watch from.

This pretty location in the picture above was not too far from Buckingham Palace.

We got there pretty early to save spaces to watch it from.

While Grandma rested on the steps, she started talking to this lady and made a connection with her. She learned that the lady was LDS and that her and her brother had come from Australia to England just that morning and were going to try to find jobs there in London.

If I remember correctly, if this flag is up that means that the Queen is home.

We never saw the Queen but this was as close to her as we will probably ever get, knowing that she was at home and that we were standing outside her home.

 And the Changing of the Guard begins...

The changing of the guard was quite a long process and although I took pictures, I was also trying to enjoy it without my camera in my face too.

It was a cool thing to watch but I don't think I ever need to do it again.

After the changing of the guard.

We had tickets for the hop on hop off bus again. They were double decker buses and of course I had to sit on top to get a clear view. And how could I not be on a double decker bus in London and not sit on top?! It was cold but it was worth facing the cold for the experience and the clear view. :)

 Some scenes from our bus ride from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral...

 St. Paul's Cathedral! I loved this place!

We went inside the cathedral but we weren't allowed to take pictures. All three of us got headphones for a self-guided tour and did everything on the first level. While Dad and Grandma waited downstairs I walked to the Whispering Gallery and the Stone Gallery. They didn't have an elevator to those places so Dad and Grandma couldn't go, but they were patient and waited for me while I went to enjoy the views. 

You walk up the dome to the Whispering Gallery (on the inside) and once you get there you get an awesome view of the beautiful main hall of the cathedral below. I don't know how to describe it but was really awesome!

 

After the Whispering Gallery, I walked to the Stone Gallery which allowed me to go outside and see the view from almost the top of the cathedral!

It was beautiful! The next six pictures are from the Stone Gallery...

 Although it was a little cold, it was a lovely day!

 St. Paul's Cathedral! The next seven pictures are St. Paul's Cathedral...

In case you couldn't tell by all of my pictures, I loved St. Paul's Cathedral, inside and out!

 Our next and last stop for the day was The British Museum. We actually didn't have too much time here (maybe a little over an hour). I was glad that on the map of the museum we received when we walked in, it had a highlights tour of the museum.

This museum is very large and overwhelming and I wouldn't have even known where to begin with only about an hour to see it. But the highlights tour was helpful. 

 Of course we had to see the Rosetta Stone!

 I don't remember what this was but it's cool!

 This picture explains the art in the picture below.

This picture describes the two pictures above this.

Overall this was an awesome day! After the museum, we went back to the hotel and packed up and got ready for our flights bright and early the next morning. 

The trip in general was pretty dang great! Thanks Matt and Karey for letting me stay with you most of the time and taking me to some awesome places. Thanks Dad and Grandma for the company while site seeing the last few days we were there.

Big Ben, Westminster's Abbey, Tower of London, River Cruise-Day 20

Dad, Grandma, and I had a list of places we wanted to go while in London. I believe we made it to all of the things on the list but one in the two days we spent there. We decided the best way to get around London was to take a hop-on hop-off bus.

Overall I like the hop-on hop-off bus concept (learning about the history of London while not having to worry about driving and navigating through the confusing streets) but the bus line we used didn't have as many buses as some of the other lines we saw, so basically we were waiting for buses quite a bit. But even with the waiting, we still got to see almost everything we planned to see and buying a two day bus pass, we also got free tickets for a cruise on the River Thames.

Waiting for the bus!

Westminster Abbey was our first stop. We went inside and took a self-guided audio tour. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but just know it was beautiful.

Westminster Abbey is where coronations usually take place as well as some royal weddings including Prince William to Kate. I didn't realize until we went inside how many famous people are buried here, people such as Isaac Newton, George Frideric Handel, Charles Dickens and many others.

Some of the details on the outside of Westminster Abbey.

Grandma and I in front of Big Ben (although I learned on a tour that Big Ben is actually the name of the bells inside of the tower and not the tower but people still call it Big Ben any way.)

Although it was pretty dang cold this day, I couldn't ride a double decker hop-on hop-off bus and not ride on top, so I endured the cold and rode on top. :)

The River Thames!

I like this picture even if does look like Big Ben is coming out of Dad's head. ;)

The lighting was changing every couple of minutes. I would see Big Ben in one light and then a couple minutes later, it would look completely different in another light. It was so interesting and beautiful.

This was on our river cruise and it was awesome! The tour guide was highly entertaining and the views were amazing!

Grandma was a trooper on this boat ride because it was cold outside (and since we were on the river I think it made it even colder) and we could have ridden below on the inside of the boat where it was warm, but Dad and I wanted to ride on the top on the outside so we rode on top and Grandma was cold. (Sorry Grandma.) I think she still enjoyed it though.

The London Eye.

It looks like the spokes of a bike wheel.

Waterloo bridge. The bridge as we see it now was built in the early 1940s. The tour guide mentioned that the bridge work force was mainly women and that it was the only bridge that was completed on time and under budget. :)

These red pillars are the remnants of original bridge that crossed the river back in 1864.

The Millennium Bridge. They said when they first opened the bridge to the public it swayed a little bit (which it was not suppose to do) and so they closed it the same day it opened for two years to fix the problem.

That cool building in the background is the Shard.

Blackfriar's Theatre.

The Shard!

A reconstruction of the ship Sir Francis Drake sailed to travel around the world back in the 1500s.

The Tower of London!

Tower Bridge!

One of the items on our list was to see the crown jewels at the Tower of London. We got to the tower about an hour before closing. The ticket agent wasn't going to sell us tickets since we only had an hour left to tour because she said that that wouldn't be enough time. But we convinced her that we really only wanted to see the crown jewels and she reluctantly sold us the tickets.

I didn't realize how much there was to see inside the Tower of London, but our first stop was the crown jewels so that we definitely made it to that, if nothing else. We couldn't take pictures inside where the crown jewels were, but there were some brilliant, large, and beautiful jewels! :)

We walked along the wall of the Tower of London and saw some more of the animal sculptures that we saw at the entrance of the Tower.

A beefeater at the Tower of London.

Walking along the wall of the Tower. These look like they might be places of residence, but I believe they're still within the walls of the Tower. Can people live within the walls of the Tower of London?

Still on the walking along the wall.

The bridge is up!

We had to get a picture with one of the beefeaters. :)

The field where the ravens are.

Thankfully, there were ravens there that day. They say when the ravens no longer live in this field, it means the Tower and the empire will fall...

London City Hall!

I liked this scooter with the roof. :)