The Crowds at the Buckingham Palace in London
The changing of guards at the Buckingham Palace attracts so many unsuspecting tourists. I have visited London many times and I personally have not seen this popular ceremony . I have however seen the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace in Stockholm and at the Greek Parliament in Athens. Now I wasn’t really keen on witnessing this, however, during my trip to the city last March, the opportunity came up.
I was staying at the Riverside area near the Tower Bridge and I have scheduled a scrummy lunch at the Smack Lobster Deli in Mayfair. I was craving for a whole lobster. In order to get to Mayfair I need to take the Jubilee line (grey line) and saw that it has a stop at Green Park which is the exit to the Buckingham Palace. I haven’t really seen the Buckingham Palace on purpose, so I thought, why not get out here instead, stroll around the property and then walk to Mayfair? Sounds a good plan methinks.
Now what I did not know is that around the time I arrived, which was around 11:15 the changing of the guards is about to start at the Buckingham Palace (starts at 11:30 but it got delayed for more than half an hour). So that explains the hundreds of people present at the palace grounds! And I was already wondering what the heck is going on, haha. My plan was to walk around the palace grounds and admire the building but you can’t with everyone standing around waiting for the change of guards procession and ceremony. So I decided to stand near the palace gates behind the pedestrian/tourist fence facing the Victoria Memorial in the middle of the front yard grounds.
Behind me was an American couple with their teenage daughter who didn’t have the patience in the world to wait. She was grumbling and I can just empathise with the poor little thing. I too was becoming sourly after half an hour, but I have a good reason to while away time as I was busy taking pictures of the crowd. The parents however kept reassuring her, after all, how many times do you holiday in London? After another 10 minutes, I was really getting grumpy and was about to leave when I saw the guards marched in with their lovely black horses.
Oh it’s begun! Hallelujah, haha! Finally. So I watched for a bit and took more pictures. Afterwards the guards marched inside the palace gates where no one else can go in, however, you can witness everything happening between the tall gilded iron gates.
I was quite expecting some real show, like with music, and some trumpets perhaps, whatever. But there was none and everything just took so darn slow. So I got totally bored. I realised I have no patience to wait for these kinds of touristy things. I hated standing behind the fence in the cold. We were like an herd of goats. I find it so silly. So I called it quits and left the scene. I hope the American teenage girl does not have to suffer that long.
What is brewing in my mind: I am hungry and it’s time to walk to Mayfair for the scrumptious freshly steamed lobster waiting for me.
The lobster was a nice reward indeed after the disappointing wait of the changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace. Although I have to say that I did enjoy watching and taking pictures of the crowd =)
Travel Period: March 2015
Destination: London (England), United Kingdom
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
I was staying at the Riverside area near the Tower Bridge and I have scheduled a scrummy lunch at the Smack Lobster Deli in Mayfair. I was craving for a whole lobster. In order to get to Mayfair I need to take the Jubilee line (grey line) and saw that it has a stop at Green Park which is the exit to the Buckingham Palace. I haven’t really seen the Buckingham Palace on purpose, so I thought, why not get out here instead, stroll around the property and then walk to Mayfair? Sounds a good plan methinks.
Now what I did not know is that around the time I arrived, which was around 11:15 the changing of the guards is about to start at the Buckingham Palace (starts at 11:30 but it got delayed for more than half an hour). So that explains the hundreds of people present at the palace grounds! And I was already wondering what the heck is going on, haha. My plan was to walk around the palace grounds and admire the building but you can’t with everyone standing around waiting for the change of guards procession and ceremony. So I decided to stand near the palace gates behind the pedestrian/tourist fence facing the Victoria Memorial in the middle of the front yard grounds.
Behind me was an American couple with their teenage daughter who didn’t have the patience in the world to wait. She was grumbling and I can just empathise with the poor little thing. I too was becoming sourly after half an hour, but I have a good reason to while away time as I was busy taking pictures of the crowd. The parents however kept reassuring her, after all, how many times do you holiday in London? After another 10 minutes, I was really getting grumpy and was about to leave when I saw the guards marched in with their lovely black horses.
Oh it’s begun! Hallelujah, haha! Finally. So I watched for a bit and took more pictures. Afterwards the guards marched inside the palace gates where no one else can go in, however, you can witness everything happening between the tall gilded iron gates.
I was quite expecting some real show, like with music, and some trumpets perhaps, whatever. But there was none and everything just took so darn slow. So I got totally bored. I realised I have no patience to wait for these kinds of touristy things. I hated standing behind the fence in the cold. We were like an herd of goats. I find it so silly. So I called it quits and left the scene. I hope the American teenage girl does not have to suffer that long.
What is brewing in my mind: I am hungry and it’s time to walk to Mayfair for the scrumptious freshly steamed lobster waiting for me.
The lobster was a nice reward indeed after the disappointing wait of the changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace. Although I have to say that I did enjoy watching and taking pictures of the crowd =)
I really like it how they did the flags.
The Victoria Memorial in front of the Buckingham Palace.
The Victoria Memorial is starting to get filled with people. Police had to call on people climbing the statues to come down, everytime.
This family just have to take a picture. Incidentally, I saw them later of the day near the Riverside area where I was staying. Interestingly, I remembered them!
The first set of guards came marching in with their beautiful horses.
British Police. A pack of M&M's went rolling down the floor when the girl was told by British Police to move further behind the fence. It was a lighthearted moment though.
Crowd, crowd and crowds.
And more crowds....
The second set of guards came marching in.... on foot. Obviously in their winter attire.
A policeman on a horse looks much better, regal I should say, than a policeman in a car.
I have had enough, but before I go, let me take a selfie =)
Travel Period: March 2015
Destination: London (England), United Kingdom
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
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