[L.E.P.A.K series: London] Chap 24: Buckingham Palace

The good and bad of travelling on your own is the fact that you can make it up as you go. Good in the sense that you have the freedom to do anything and everything the way you want. Bad in the sense that when things don't turn out the way you want and you hit the panic button with much time wasted. Though that itself is an experience on its own.

Getting lost is part of the frustration and joy of travelling.

Our initial plan according to my 32-pages itinerary was to catch our ride from Mansion House Underground (which was a few blocks away from St Paul's Cathedral) to Victoria Underground. It's an easier direct line with no interchange. From Victoria we were supposed to take a stroll to Buckingham Palace Garden. 

 Well, that was the plan. But here's what happened.

We opted to play it safe and use back Bank Underground as our start point. We decided we were more comfortable changing tubes than exploring new roads. We found our way to Victoria Underground with no problem at all. 

 Then we stepped out. Took a good look around to figure out our way. And gave up. Hahaha. We went back into the station and took the tube to an even nearer station, Green Park. See! We're making it up as we go.

It was not a bad turn after all because the park was a beautiful sight 

in a winterish spring kind of way. Hehe.

We were running out of time as the Changing of Guards ceremony begins at eleven. 

Since we didn't exactly prepared to take this scenic route, we took the leap of faith and followed the crowd, hoping they will lead us to Buckingham Palace.

Even with the time limit, we still can't help ourselves from stopping 

to take a photo with spring. Lovely (minus the lady behind me). 

Finally, Buckingham Palace was in sight. And so was the thousands of spectators!!

Even a newscaster was here! Come to think of it, we might have appeared in some random programme as one of the tiny little faces behind her. Haha. Should have gave ourselves 5 seconds of fame right there. Shameless.

Look at that crowd yo!

And so it begun! 

The band was loud, the horses were magnificent, the guards were dignified.

It's a pity it was winter, so all we saw was thick grey overcoats instead of their bright red uniforms. We were allowed to stand anywhere except the main entrance and on the road for obvious reason.

So how did we manage to get such a shot? *grins* Well, we were still allowed to walk across the entrance like any other pedestrian way, we just can't stop and stare. Which we did not. We quickly took the shot within the pause of a few seconds before we were urged to speed up and cross. Hehe.

Did you know that horses shit like nobody's business? Hahaha. Serious. 

There were shit everywhere on the road as the horses delight themselves. *sweat* 

Don't worry, I will not show you poo-poo. =P

Instead I will show you one more zoomed in shot of the guards.

And just like that, the ceremony came to an end and the new guards were in position.

Bye bye guards and shameless horses! 

As for us?

We took the opportunity to continue camwhore around the vicinity. 

Here's me in front of the Victoria Memorial.

And here's me in front of Buckingham Palace.

Let's not forget about Cik Anai, shall we? 

That's her attempting an "Attention!" pose.

And that was our uneventful participation at the Changing of Guards Ceremony.

Next up! We're catching another train out to somewhere...

...not too far away from London. ;)