More London Sights

I got up at 7am to go for a run. It was a bit dark for running in Wandsworth Park so I stayed on Putney Bridge Rd. Ran for nearly 5km then home for a shower and breakfast.
We left home at 9:30 and decided to catch bus instead of tube into London today. The only disappointing thing was it was only a single level bus instead of a double decker.
Our first stop today was to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. It was very crowded outside Buckingham Palace half an hour before the ceremony was due to start so

we decided to watch the beginning part outside Wellington Barracks instead. This is where one of the relief contingents form up to then march to Buckingham Palace to change with the current group of guards. We were treated to some Christmas songs by the marching band before the band and the guards marched off.
After the guards had left Wellington Barracks we moved on to Buckingham Palace to see if we could see anything there but it was so crowded that Brianna and I decided to go for a coffee instead and we left Ian and Lauren to push through the crowd to attempt to see something. The Changing of the Guard had already happened but they managed to see some more of the brass band playing and then the old guard moving off back to Wellington Barracks. Once Ian and Lauren joined us again we walked passed the Houses of Parliament – Big Ben is unfortunately covered in scaffold at the moment, Downing St and onto Horse Guards Parade so we could have a photo with one of the guards on horse back. They are so very disciplined, not moving a muscle despite all the people crowding around and stopping for photos.
Then it was onto the London Eye – we were booked for 1:15pm and ate our packed lunch while in the queue to get on. The crowds continue!

It was still a cloudy day, but still no rain which was lucky and we had a really good view from the Eye.
After the Eye we decided to do a river cruise from the Eye to Tower of London as this was another thing that was included in our London Pass. It was lovely to journey to Tower Bridge by boat and have a view of London from the river as well as having an interesting commentary on the way. We had a great view of Tower bridge from the boat.
Entry into the Tower of London was also included in our London Pass and we got inside pretty quickly. I was surprised by how many buildings are actually inside the Tower area, once again there was lots of history to read about as we walked through various buildings. The queue to see the Crown Jewels was huge so we decided to give them a miss. Instead we just enjoyed wandering around some of the old buildings then decided we were ready for a rest – by now it was 4:30 and getting dark, so we stopped in a pub on the edge of the Thames with a view of London Bridge and enjoyed a sit down and drink.
We caught the tube back home, stopping for some dinner supplies at the supermarket after getting off the train. Ian was on cooking duty tonight and he decided on chicken carbonara, which was very yummy. After dinner we watched some TV

then off to bed after another busy day.