There's a palace here?? Who knew?

Today I decided to go and watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. There is a website you can go to and find out the days and times the changes will take place. The guard changes every day but with the Olympics taking place here their schedule has changed just a little. The change takes place at 11:30 officially but before they actually change the guard the guard "band" walks around the fountain and road in front of the palace with the current guard walking being them, and then the new guards will take a turn, following the band, of course. So the entire process is close to a full hour long.

The band is very entertaining. Today I heard renditions of the Indiana Jones theme song, Star Wars theme song, a Lady Gaga song (which I couldn't identify) as well as the national anthem. They were all executed wonderfully, which is what you would expect from members of the Queen's guard I suppose.

I arrived early, or what I considered to be early, at 11am, only to find the entire court and surrounding areas of the palace completely crowded. This event is not just commonly attended by tourists but the residents here are high in attendance as well. I did not get anywhere near the palace for quite a while. My standing place was along the road and I did seem some of the guards and the band pass by from my position, but not very clearly unfortunately. But I was able to hear the band very well which was nice. When I got up to the gates I was near the front as the area had emptied out about half of its spectators. While standing at the front close to the gates; the flag bearers, and I think section leaders, marched right up to the gateand stood there smiling. Just so people could take pictures of them. They had their bright red coats on, sabers at their side, and huge black hat things that came just below their eyebrows making me wonder how well they could actually see. When they got near us and stopped everyone around was pretty quiet, possibly wondering why they had come so close to the gates, as none of the other guards had. After about half a minute of silence one of the guards smiled and said, "Good morning", everyone started giggling and snapping pictures, the guards counter part took his turn and said, "Lovely day", of course that brought more laughter and after about two minutes the gentlemen turned and walked away. Even though I wasn't able to see the actual "changing of the guard" that exchange was well worth the trip to the palace.

Once I had stopped taking pictures and being a tourist, I started my walk back to the flat. This had been determined last night after looking at a map and seeing that Buckingham Palace was only about three miles away. This morning I rode the tube to Buckingham but walked back so I could walk through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, and past Kensington Palace. Although it was not far, I like walking so three miles didn't seem too bad, my initial route had to be changed. I kept coming upon signs that stated "ticket holders only" so I had to go around, or down a different street. But I did get to walk through Hyde Park, and past an Olympic venue, I think it was for triathlon. I took a few pictures but whatever was competing there had either finished or hadn't started. I also walked through Kensington Park and was very excited to see Kensington Palace as well, when i came up to where it is located a sign said "Kensington Palace is being transformed" not quite sure what that means but whatever it is, I could not see the palace. So I walked the rest of the way, which was maybe half a mile, back to the apartment.

London is so compacted that what seems like a far way away is actually very close. You just pass by lots of buildings to get to where you need to be. Kensington Palace and Gardens is probably a ten minute walk away from where I am staying and all this time I thought it wasn't in walking distance.
So I got some pictures and will put a few up with this post, I walked around London and discovered there are very nice parks walking distance from where I am staying.

Tomorrow, venue training and shift one.