Buckingham Palace – The Changing of the Guard

When we got to the Buckingham Palace there was a massive crowd already gathered for the changing of the guard. This one of the few things I had not done on my previous trip. I had witnessed a part of the changing, where the horses are housed a few blocks away at the Horse Guar, but had not seen the Buckingham Palace end of it. With it being October, it is not considered prime tourist season, so the changing only happens every other day. I wonder if that is why there were so many people there or if it was always like that?

We entered the area from the north and tried to work our way through the crowds stopping of course to take some pictures long the way.

Here is the gate.
Buckingham palace.
The flag – the Queen was in – my invitation to see her must have gotten lost in the mail.We made our way along the front of the palace to the south side where we crossed the street and found a place to stand. There were several guards along the way trying to direct traffic and keep people moving, but they were not very successful.

The view of the palace from where we were standing. This is the Queen Victoria Monument. Some views of the crowds waiting.
Here I am with Buckingham Palace in the back. Here is Shannon…. But actually there is more to this picture then just Shannon. We found a spot to stand, but unfortunately it was next to tourist family, a Dad, Mom, two kids – one was girl and the other I think a boy, but with his long curly hair I was not 100% sure. Based on their accent I would say they were from Oklahoma or Texas, and they exemplified you typical “stupid American tourist.” They were loud, obnoxious, and spouting off all this incorrect information. I was finding the scene a bit entertaining, but Shannon was pretty annoyed. With is being so crowded Shannon was in front against the rail, next to the Dad and I was behind her. After a while of standing I noticed the Dad’s jeans and almost busted out laughing. At first I could not quite put my finger on what was wrong with them… they were straight legged, with gold detail on the pockets, and on the bottom several inches, and they were bedazzled down the side. Then it hit me – they were women’s jeans. It was hilarious. I was chuckling back there from that point on. I was trying to figure out a way to bring them to Shannon’s attention with out being rude and trying to get a picture of them. I failed at both. It was not until they walked away that I asked Shan if she had seen them. She had not. But in this picture, if you look closely, the man on Shannon’s right, with the gold jacket on, is the Dad and you can see the pockets of the women’s jeans. Another thing that happened while we were waiting was that there was a little fender bender just to the left of where we were. We felt so bad for the poor person who got hit – by the time the police left the changing of the guard had started and the road was closed so the whole thing took forever.

Finally the ceremony began with the bagpipers. Next was the military personal.
Then the band. Finally the horses.

Over all it was fun to see the pageantry of the ceremony.

From the Changing of the Guards we waded through the crowds to make our way towards Hyde Park.