Day 14 -- 6/14- London - Day 1

 We slept well and didn't get up early.  We just had to be a Buckingham Palace by 11am.  We took the Piccadilly Line to the Green Park station and walked about 1/2 mile to join the thousands already there and lining the fences.  We saw and heard the arrival of the guards but couldn't see the actual ceremony.  There was aggressive crowd control by mounted policemen, foot policemen, and bicycle policemen.  After the ceremony was over, we got a good view of the exit of the guard and the band.  There was definitely a lot of pomp & circumstance!



I downloaded an app to purchase HOHO bus tickets and we made our way to the back of the palace to get on the bus. There we had a nice chat with a mother and daughter from Mexico. We first used the blue line route and then the yellow line on the Toot bus company.  There are 3-4 bus companies doing HOHO.  It was very interesting to see things we have only read about or seen on TV or film.  The sheer size and quantity and age of the quarried stone buildings was impressive.  At Big Ben we got to see the clock hands move rapidly as it was being reset for some reason. It was very hot on the top deck of the bus, and on the yellow line we got off and enjoyed a lunch at KFC before resuming our tour.  


Around 5pm, got off the bus near our Theater venue and found a restaurant where we had a light dinner of ceviche.  The theater presentation of 'Ain't too Proud' was excellent with lots of music we knew.  It's a story of the group, The Temptations. Afterwards we found our way back to our canal boat via the subway, and called it a night around midnight. There were still lots of people out and about and the subway trains were full.  But a funny thing happened on the train when we got on.  A number of seated passengers jumped up to offer us seats.  I declined multiple offers, and explained that's how I keep my youth.


Tomorrow we visit the British Museum and have another play plus a bit more.

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