day 6

Sunday

London           Wax museum            Changing of the guard               Buckingham Palace              Kensington Palace             Nando's

I have actually been looking forward to writing about this day for many weeks. We had a wonderful stay in London. Today we saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was spectacular.that was one of the items hih on my priority list, so we showed up at least an hour early. It was probably more like two hours. We took in the sites and began looking for a place to stand without knowing really where the activities were going to take place. There are three gates to the front of the palace. Each time they do changing of the guard, they randomly select one of the gates which the majority of the activities take place.  we were there early so we could choose from numerous open spots along the fence the surround the palace. We chose a spot to the left of the center gate next to a woman, who introduced herself as Helga from Portugal, and her mother. Soon the processional started with multiple guards and numerous routines. The cadet leading the troops carried a long sword and marched directly toward us and standing erect, and saluting right in front of us. Emily could have reached out and grabbed hand. He Then marched back to the castle and repeated. It was awesome. You know how sometimes you wish at some event the performer would stand directly in front of you? That's how this was, except indeed he was right in front of us just as though he was performing this whole event for Emily. Now cool is that? You won't believe the pictures when you see them. 

We were still in a hurry and as we made our wyh to the exit, we found our Big Bus and were boarding when Mom told us that she had bought tickets to the Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum. The tickets she bought allowed us to enter through door 2 without having to wait. Good idea. Great move Mom. So we hopped on the bus at the Buckingham Palace and jumped off at the museum. The good deal at door number 2 had attracted a lot more customers, so the line was long. We wondered if there would be time to do this and still catch out 4:31 train. We decided to wait it out and indeed, we madeit into the museum enforce too long. We got some great pics, and as we left the building, a taxi was waiting for a red light. We flagged him down and asked him to take us to our apartment and then to bus station. He did and we got to the train station an amazing one hour early. As we were waiting in line for our Paris train, an attendant asked o er the loudspeaker if their was anyone in line for the Paris train. She then escorted us to the front of the line to expedite our entry. We boarded our coach and the train attendant asked to see our boarding passes...it took special authority to enter first class. He welcomed us aboard and showed us to our seats. First class was something new for me, but the best part was seeing my wife and daughter caulded. Our we'd seats were sported by a table,which all came in handy as they served us lunch. Personal USB connectors allowed cellphone and iPad charging. Linda and Emily deserved it all the way. It was fun to see them pampered. Two more days in Paris. Can't get any better than this. Or can it?

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