Day 2 was another early start for Dad, Mum and Stephen. Although let’s face it the start of every day of this holiday was potentially going to be an early start. Heh heh.

After filling up on breakfast at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand we meandered through over to await the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. On the way we stopped in at Trafalgar Square and The Mall for the requisite photos. I got Mum do some silly poses in front of some sculptures and there were some workmen sitting down having their morning tea – they vastly entertained by us if their p!ssing themselves with laughter (in a good natured way) was any indication. I love how Mum will do pretty much anything I ask her. She’s great!

The Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace must surely be one of the most overrated tourist attractions in the world but its still gotta be done! You can read all the guides you want about the Changing of the Guards but the key to getting a good spot is to get there early. We thought that we would do something a little different and move around a bit so we could actually see the guards moving around – and not be stuck pressed to the gates of Buckingham Palace itself.

This kind of worked for us but it did involve quite a bit of running around!

It seemed fitting that having seen the Changing of the Guards that we would actually go in and visit Buckingham Palace itself. Although they try to regulate the numbers inside the Palace it still gets tremendously crowded – but it was worth the visit to see how much Mum thoroughly enjoyed it. She didn’t have to but she kept on thanking me for arranging for us to visit it! What a sweetie. I don’t know what Dad and the boys thought of it as we were milling around – we soon lost them to the crowd inside!

After Buckingham Palace we had some time before we did our London Duck Tour so we walked over from Buckingham Palace to the Eye, or pick up location for the London Duck Tours. Its so great how London is just so walkable!

The London Duck Tour was okay – though many of the sites it took us around were already part of our itinerary. Not sure it did much for our orientation but I guess it was pretty cool to take a dip into the Thames and see London from a different perspective. Our tour guide did his best to liven up the tour cracking some funny jokes and giving us some very random facts about London … sadly it was a little lost on the audience who didn’t seem to get it! Ah well.

After such a long day of running around hitting the tourist sites it was a very satisfied family that sat down for a rewarding meal at Tierra Brindisa.