La Familia Brown: Buckingham Palace and the V&A

Today we spent the day doing one of the most touristy things one can do while in London. We went to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard! We took a guided walking tour and it was quite entertaining and informative. Apparently, the last time I was in London (with Bernadette and Melissa) we did it all wrong. Most people camp out in front of the palace, which is what we did, but if you do it that way you miss most of the action!

Our tour started at the food of the Royal Mall (the road which leads to the palace). We learned that the pavement there is painted red to represent the Queen's red carpet. Then we walked to St. James Palace (where Charles, Diana and the boys used to live) because that's where members of the old guard and the band begin the journey to the palace. We watched the band start to play and then our guide rushed us back to the Mall so we could get a better look of the band and then we marched alongside of them for a bit. Eli had Amaya on his shoulders the whole time so she could see. It was very sweet and she just loved it!

When we made it up to the palace we watched the changing take place. We were quite a ways back from the gates, but on a little rise so we could still see. Then we headed back to St. James Palace to see the changing of the guard they do there. That part was great because most people don't even know that happens. For example, I didn't know they did that. So there are no crowds and you can go write up to the guards. There's literally one little chain separating us. We were so close that we could hear the head guard giving instructions to the new guards beginning their duty.

We learned lots of tidbits about the palace and the guards. For example, to guard Buckingham Palace you have to be a current member of the British army who has deployed in combat. For many of them, they might only get one chance to be a guard at Buckingham so it's a great honor for them. Also, their guns are real and loaded!

We also learned about a man who broke in to the palace back in the 80s (Michael Fagan, I think his name was) and made it all the way to the queen's bedroom where they had quite a nice chat. They only became suspicious when the queen rang down for a lighter at 4 am. See the man wanted a smoke, and the queen doesn't smoke so she had to call down. When the butler got the call he thought something was wrong so they stormed in and arrested the man. He's out now and doing ok, apparently. The queen was in residence today, but we didn't see her. I guess she didn't get my email that we were coming.

After Buckingham Palace we had our picnic lunch (we've been packing lunches for the kids and us most days to save money) on the steps of the National Galleries at Trafalgar Square. It's a great place for people watching. Then we got on a hop on hop off bus to head to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The museum was a bit of a let down for me because I wasn't able to see the ONE thing I was really looking forward to. The V&A houses this huge collection of fashions which date back a few hundred years from what I've heard. Well, we get there only to find out that the exhibit is closed until Spring 2012. I was pissed! Ryan on the other hand was thrilled as he was not enjoying his time at the museum. We did spend about an hour there looking at some of the other exhibits so it wasn't a complete waste. I'm just glad admission is free or I probably would have asked for a refund!