27. A Welcoming Canada Gate

 Tuesday dawned beautifully bright and sunny. We spent it doing a lot of walking to all of our destinations and it was a glorious day. The changing of the guard was our first stop at Buckingham Palace. We saw the horse colour guards on parade, though they were certainly much smaller in number than our last visit. And there didn’t seem to be an official changing of the guard inside the palace gates, so we’re not sure what was going on with that tradition. There was a lot of marching around by two guards from one station to the next. We also noticed while we were waiting that the King’s flag had been removed and another flag put in its place. We presume that was the Prince of Wales flag. And we did see who we presume was the King leaving in his armoured car and police detail and then saw him return with the same entourage a short time later. 

Buckingham Palace

It was really nice to see Canada Gate again. It’s such a beautiful gate and we took lots of pictures. It’s really emotional seeing anything related to your own country when you’re travelling, at least it is for me.

Canada Gate and a good looking Canadian

 

We had a few hours to pass before our Churchill War Rooms tour so we walked down to the Thames and did a lot of exploring around the neighbourhood walking over the Millenium and the Westminster Bridge. The crowds of people waiting to board the London Eye (Ferris wheel) was really something to observe. 

Westminster, the House of Parliament

There are just huge crowds everywhere, so unlike previous trips to London. In the photo above, there was a film group clearing the area so they could film a movie. 

The Churchill War Rooms were very interesting. Of course it’s all underground because it is where the War Cabinet met. The exhibits showed the serious and the not-so-serious side of Churchill. Evidently he expected a lot from everyone he worked with but he also had profound respect for anyone who worked for him. There are a lot of exhibits that give a real glimpse into what it must have been like to be in these underground quarters for weeks at a time. Apparently they even had sun lamps they started to use with the women secretaries to give them a sense of what it was like above ground. The exposure could only be for minutes at a time or they could really burn or even blind themselves.

 

Coming back to the hotel we decided to stroll through Green Park, St. James Park, and I believe we ended with Kensington Gardens which were the most beautiful right now. It was nice to see some flowers blooming here. It’s quite different from our last visit when it seemed like lots of things were blooming. 

This is for you Eric. 

And the promised Carousel photo, this time from London.