Palaces, Fancy Cars, and Accents

Today we started bright and early again, hurrying to Buckingham Palace to guarantee a spot to see the changing of the guard. Due to a complete fluke, we happened to get front row seats, and full commentary from two polic officers of whom we made great buddies with just because we were smiling and being nice (amazing concept, I know). The ceremony was incredible- much longer and more involved than I was expecting. The marching band sounded amazing and the uniforms were quite a sight. The palace was beautiful. I honestly could not imagine living in a place like that. We also discussed how the Queen must feel knowing that events such as "the changing of the guard" take place daily or every-other-day technically just for her.

The Victoria Memorial is directly in front of the back gates of the Palace, so we saw that, and then from there we saw the Westminster Arch. The Victoria and Albert Museum came next. We focused on the Europe exhibit and the fashion exibit. Some of our least favorite clothing items were the "recent" examples of clothing. Kensington Palace and Gardens came next. We didn't go inside, but the outside was beautiful. A little less ornate than that of Buckinham Palace, but still unbelievable that people live there (such as a couple Dukes). We went on to see the Marble Arch located at the North-East end of Hyde Park and walking back along Park Lane we saw some beautiful cars and hotels. We stopped in Covent Gardens before heading back to the hotel to take showers and rest for a little.

We went to Brown's for dinner, which is in between Leicester Sqaure and Covent Gardens. True London fish and chips are delicious- the fried fish is much lighter than the American counterpart. Afterwards we went to the Verve Club- it was 3 floors and played a lot of old-school American rap of which the Brits yelled "oooooooohhhhhhh!!!!" to. The best part of the night was the fact that people kept saying "Oh, I love your accent!" Being Californians, we definitely think we are devoid of an accent, so we loved it. The night ended in being driven back to the hotel in a Mercedes Benz luxury limosine. A perfect end to a day of palaces and high-end streets.

My knees have been holding up. They are definitely sore and tired and Advil is still my best friend, but I have not had to move onto the prescription pain killers and they aren't too swollen. So overall, considering all the walking we've done and the cold weather, I am very pleased with the level of pain. YAY!

A few random observations:

1. Although they seem to be so proper in many aspects, Londoners are incredibly pushy and do not say anything in the effect of "excuse me" if they bump you. They almost just shove harder and keep going. We are looked at as weird for saying "pardon me" to get through a crowd.

2. Everything is so close. We're used to Los Angeles where sights are very spread out. We are constanctly surprised at the closeness of things we want to  see (its definitely helpful in getting to see a lot of things!)