Thursday morning 29^th December, loomed…dark …probably because it was early! 6.30am. (We had spent many hours of sleep catching up from our long plane flight and really, what else do you do when it is dark and cold??)

After coffee and cake for breakfast left by our host (and I thought I was going to lose weight,) we picked up the ‘Hop on, hop off bus” to explore London Town! And our old friend the sun once more came out to greet us as we parked ourselves on the top of the double decker bus to explore the city! (There are no single decker commercial buses in London- they are all double decker)

So where do we go? Buckingham Palace of course!
Not that we are royalists but you must go to Buckingham Palace when in London!
This is where we begin to learn the patience of waiting!

Now in Australia, we generally do not wait very long in queues for anything, or in fact we do not wait very long in lines except for those fun things like wet and wild and dream-world entertainment where you know you must wait! We learnt today that Brits are exceptionally good at waiting. At having patience….and standing in the one spot for a long time and not complaining at all. I have learnt the old adage of ‘winging pom’ did not apply at all! In fact, we, the travellers were the ones who were whinging!

‘Hopping off’ the bus- ( oh like that one….) – we made our way to the marble steps outside the Buckingham palace gates. It is an amazing place, gold and glitter and stone, but marked by history for such a long period of time. Queen Victoria made her home here! Next to a huge lion statue perched on the outstretched arms of the marble steps, we stood before the balcony where the royals have made their significant entrance to the public world after they have been married. For me it was noteworthy in remembering the images of that balcony kiss of Diana and Charles to the recent wedding of William and Kate. I marvelled at how the British crowd must have waited for hours and hours for them to appear on the steps to a rousing cheer! (We had only been waiting for half an hour and I was already tired of waiting! )

However, after the momentous images trip down history for me, in the glorious and unusual sunshine, we were now being surrounded by a few thousand-other people who had also made their way to the same place and the many roped off areas. The changing of the Queens guard occurs once every second day at 11.30 am, so if you wish to see it…you simply have to be there in time. So we stayed. We stood. We waited and we waited some more.

Eventually about 20 minutes before the actual ceremony, the police began to ensure that the crowds were well behind the roped areas and you were not near any of the important areas. Police everywhere of course. In the distance the sound of pipes and a marching band could be heard, but not until the actual time of changing, did you see them come into visibility. Oh…a touch of excitement. And here they come….marching, marching marching….and disappeared into a smaller side gate into the courtyard behind the huge iron gates.

How disappointing! Everything was completed behind those immense huge iron gates. The colours of the soldiers were a dull purplish brown which blended into the grey environment surrounding them. Marching into the palace yard, the only visible part you could see was the footwork, and only visible because you could see black feet move. The guard was changed, the marching band entered the palace courtyard and instruments officially set up, all very regimental and in time, nothing at all like a modern stage band doing their own thing! Again, disappointing! The marching band played behind the palace gates and the sound did not carry very well. With an emblematic applause, they finished their music, the guard changed, one group in, the other went out and lo and behold the huge iron gates opened, and out the marching band marched…back the same way they came, lavishly flaying their arms as they marched and played ……. away from the enormous crowd.
Bye!
After waiting 1&1/2 hours to see this so called revered spectacle, we both considered it quite underwhelming! I do understand that they have their job to do and with assurance of security, but with the 1000 plus people viewing this every second day in winter, you would think there might be more of a crowd pleaser. Yes, it was definitely a ceremony to be seen, but nothing of the regalia we both expected. We were just not impressed! But saw it we did! And we can say, ok…we can now tick that one off the list!

On to Trafalgar square! Another turn of learning patience as we had to line up to collect our tickets from the NYE ticket store. So along with many many others, we wound our way around the iron gates and collected our 10 pound tickets to see the fireworks on NYE.! Here I also learnt that in order to wee, you had to pay 20pence! A fee for pee! Great!
Trafalgar square was impressive….I will admit that, Lord Nelson’s column here , it is a huge area and near to Big Ben (now that’s an impressive icon) and the Parliament buildings, such old old architecture and so amazing to look at! I could not help admiring the history associated with these icons! We are so young In Australia!

Next St Pauls Cathedral.
St Pauls Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral, and is at the highest point of the City of London. Services held at St Paul’s have included the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Winston Churchill, and Margaret Thatcher; jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, and the thanksgiving services for the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees and the 80th and 90th birthdays of Elizabeth II. However, it is still a working church with hourly prayer and daily services.

The cathedral as a whole is an amazing work of architecture however , the dome reaches a height of 111 and weighs about 66,000 tons. Eight arches support the dome. On top of the dome is a large lantern with a weight of 850 tons.
560 steps lead visitors along three galleries all the way to the top of the dome. The first gallery, the Whispering Gallery, just inside the dome, is renowned for its acoustics. The second gallery, the Stone Gallery, is situated at a height of 53 meters on the outside of the dome, right above the colonnade. On top of the dome, at a height of 85 meters is the narrow Golden Gallery, which encircles the lantern’s base. From here you have a magnificent view over the City.
This is where we went!

Well of course we did! What else would you expect!
After looking around the most impressive interior and marvelling at the architecture and historical aspects, up we went into the Colonnade. Spiralling staircases winding up and around and up and around and around and around as we traipsed the 560 steps to the top…I became quite dizzy going up the stairs and on the iron staircase. The scariest part was knowing that you had to come down again! But it was worth the exercise and the heavy breathing to encapsulate the scenery below….well as much as I could look out at being not very good with heights. We did the photography thing and followed the copious amounts of people around the dome and back down onto ground level.

By the time we had finished viewing the cathedral AND getting our cardio workout, it was past 4 and, you guessed it, the dusk has settled and the night air has developed a real nip to it. That is our queue to get back on the bus and make our way home for a hot “meal” of 2minute noodles before getting ready to go across town to the theatre.

The walk took us from gloomy streets not heavily frequented by tourists, across London Bridge (not the Tower Bridge for those who do not know the difference), up the Strand past the Waldorf (no, we did not stay there) to Drury Lane of “Muffin Man” fame. We were early and tried to find somewhere just for a cup of warm cocoa – there were plenty of bars, a few restaurants with queues (yes, the Brits will queue up for anything) but no simple cafes! Eventually we found a Starbucks, had a simple cup of warm cocoa and went back to the theatre. The musical was the theatre version of the movie, “School of Rock”. The first act was unimpressive and we both found ourselves ashamedly ‘zoning out’ at times. The second act made up for the first with the kids’ very energetic singing and laying. For the finale, the theatre musicians made a point of standing and watching the performance to prove that the kids were actually playing their own instruments! The kids were wonderful and we left feeling we had enjoyed the show – not needing to see it again but impressed with the children’s talent!

A new edition tomorrow!