17 Dec: Day 1 (Part 1) London Buckingham Palace Changing the Guards Walking Tour.

Actually after arriving on the 16th, we went out to have dinner but I was too tired to finish the super ultra salty pie.
I just wanted to sleep.

We booked the 6D4N London Plus package with UOB Travels after I calculated each item and found out that the deal was pretty good.
We took Singapore Airlines and stayed at Novotel London West with breakfast.
It included some freebies which we took such as bus tour and a 1 day tour to Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor.

The booking came with breakfast served in the room!

It was pretty interesting for the 1st few nights.

We had to tick off the breakfast items - drinks (2 types of coffee, 2 types of tea or hot chocolate), cereals or fruit bowl.

The bread and rolls came everyday.

Here's some more freebies for those wanting to go to London for F&E.

The Original Bus Tour in London offers a free Changing the Guards Walking Tour starting at its office near Trafalagar Square (nearest Tube Station is Charing Cross or Piccadily Circus).
To check if the date you want to visit has any ceremony, you can do the check on this site here.
It's usually every other day at Buckingham (odd or even) and for the other day the change is at Windsor.
So they take turns.
My understanding is the changing the guards at Buckingham is more grand.

We headed out slightly earlier at around 0830am to see the magnificent Trafalgar Square.

Tube station - some stations reminded me of Narnia and some others reminded me or Harry Potter!

Oh, some of the houses there reminded me of Harry Potter too!hahahaha!!!

It's just so surreal to see them in life!

Anyway, we took the tube to Charring Cross Station to have a view of the magnificent Trafalgar Square.

Trafalgar square commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar of 1805 where the British were victorious in chasing away the French.

The area of the square was really vast, maybe 4-5 times the size of the square outside NAC with cars and buses zooming all around.

Nelson's column was built to commerate Admiral Nelson's death during the battle.

Can't really see from the photo but his statue stands on top of this granite column.

The statue faces South where his ships were docked.

Any one lost in this area and need a sense of direction but doesn't have a compass can try using this method to find your bearings!

Around the column you can find 4 bronze lions.

There were a bunch of exchange students climbing and sitting on the lions whilst we were there.

The lions were modeled after cats and dogs which explains why some of the lions have their tongues sticking out like dogs. I heard this on the bus tour which made me look at the lions twice.

Another interesting 'fact' I heard was that if Big Ben ever strikes 13, the lions will awaken and prowl the area.

Not sure how true that is. =)

The lions were pretty huge, don't be mistaken by this photo cause I was some distance away.

If, I didn't have my precious in my tummy, I would probably have climbed up to take a closer photo.

The fountain which was still splashing water despite the top layer of the pool being a layer of ice.

Yes, I was cold!

Behind me was the National Gallery.

I didn't really spend much time here as I had to look for the office of the bus tour for the free walking tour which starts at 1030am.

So, nope, I did not head into the Gallery.

A final view of part of the area and we went in search of the office.

We were lost for a little while as the roads there DO NOT run in sequence.

They are kinda weird as the can be a curve merging with a straigh road and meeting another curve.

You'll get what I'm trying to say when you see it.

Luckily, Mr Look had a good sense of direction which lead to the finding of the bus stop that led to the guide pointing to us where the office was. Phew!

Ma was estatic to wait in the office for the tour and not being out in the cold.

Only problem? They had no toilets.

So the guide came at 1025 and led the group of about 30 off.

The walking pace was pretty fast so I'll ask parents to watch over their young kids or elders.

Instead of watching only the change of guards outside the palace, this tour showed us a little more.

A short walk to the back of the block revealed 'The Mall'.

The Mall is a road that runs from the palace to the Admiralty Arch which is to the left of where this photo was taken.

The whole road was red which made it looks like a grand red carpet running to and from the palace!

The Admiralty Arch was commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother Queen Victoria although he did not live to see its completion.

As you can see, the center gate is closed off to traffic.

The reason is that the gate is meant only for the Queen.

Even if the prince were to leave the palace without the Queen, they can't pass through the middle gate.

No buses are allowed to pass through the gates too.

I was obviously not paying attention to the guide.

Moving on towards the palace.

The police on horses.

Behind them is St James Park.

Wee~ The Household Cavalry Regiment strutting past us to the Palace.

All the horses were black!!

Our guide mentioned that the behind the scenes of the Changing the Guards were a little more interesting so we trotted off to our 1st stop.

These are the Coldstream Guards (Foot Guards) based in St James' Palace.

St James' Palace is actually one of the oldest Palace in London but it hasn't been stayed in by royalty for decades.

The Guards played a simple tune before marching off to Buckingham Palace.

You can differentiate the regiments based on the plume (feather) color on their bearskin cap.

Coldstream Guards have a red plume on their cap.

We trotted off across St James' Park to Wellington Barracks to see the Irish guards prepare for their march to the palace.

Out they come.

They have a blue plume on their caps.

Look at the amount of people watching the change!

The change is done at the Forecourt of the Palace which usually means it's behind the gates.

The Queen Victoria Memorial.

We thought it was over but the guide marched us back to St James' Palace.

We stood outside the gates and was wondering what will be happening.

Did a little camwhore when they came marching back.

And while we were waiting again, it started to snow!

See the white blanket on the reddish ground behind me?

I managed to choose 2 photos to show you the sudden 'blizzard' in less than 10 minutes of standing there.

A little snow.

Heavy snowfall!

Yeap, that was how scary it was.

Mum heard the officer telling the guards that they could go inside if the weather change for the worse since it was snowing quite heavily.

Apparently, they are on guard duty from 8am to 5pm (if I remember accurately).

After that it's being outsourced to security companies. =P

We headed for a quick lunch and the complimentary bus tour for the rest of the day.

Will cover that in Part 2.