London – Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Open Bus Tour, and Exploring at Leicester Square

This was our first real day in London and we decided jet lag could wait - it was time to explore London! I had printed off a map of our walk to the tube station and followed it closely only to find out the station was just around the corner. Much easier than I was expecting. And Google's 7 minute walk included 5 minutes wandering around the Chelsea FC grounds which was actually quite nice. 

A tube station in all its glory - strangely without anybody standing around waiting

Thankfully there was a very helpful British guy in the ticket office who got us sorted with Oyster cards (cost 5 pounds which you get refunded when you give the card back) and off we went. It was about 10:30am on a Saturday when we left so there was hardly anybody else around and it was a very cruisy trip into town. We jumped off at the closest station and then headed to the great Buckingham Palace. Time to get started Being Tourists.

Oddly enough about a thousand other people had the same idea as us. Who would have thought? We arrived about half an hour before the Changing of the Guard started and managed to get a good spot in the second row to see the guards marching. They march in three separate lots from the barracks outside into the palace grounds and then they all change together. Adam loved seeing all the horses and hearing the band play..

But the best part for Hisham and I was this awesome Police lady. As you can see in the above photo we were standing next to a walkway and she spent the entire hour we were there moving people along. Our favourite lines of hers were were:

"You may not speak English but see my International Arm showing you where to keep walking!"

"Enjoy the experience! While you're taking hundreds of crappy photos with other people's hands and cameras in the background, someone is rummaging through your bag. Beware of pickpockets!"

The crowds were too thick against the Palace fence and we decided seeing the parade was enough for us so we headed out to find a bus tour. We had looked up online and found one that offered two days for the price of one with a free river boat cruise so to the Original Tour we went.

The Original Bus Tour - Buckingham Palace stop

It even came with a photobomber!

The tour was awesome. There was a lady on the bus who was giving us information about all the things we were passing and some fun facts to brighten our day. Much better than those buses where you have to plug your headphones in to the automated voiceover which is always too quiet and crackly.

We saw Big Ben!

And see the amazing weather? It was like this all day. I never got used to the short days though - it was only light from 9am until 4:30pm which didn't help Adam getting back to a normal sleep routine either.

The London Eye!

The Tower Bridge!

On the Tower Bridge!

The weather! The river! The beauty!

By the time we got back to town we were starving so went into the first restaurant we saw as we got off the bus and it was such a good snap decision. TGI Fridays! So much better than diners at home like Denny's. This place had charisma, it had atmosphere, it was vibrant, and it had really delicious food. It got me excited for the USA leg of our trip.

Hisham soaking up the Friday's atmosphere and the free wifi

While we were in Fridays we saw people carrying M&M bags. Could this be a real thing here in London? We had to go and find out for ourselves. Sure enough, London has an M&M World. This shouldn't have excited me so much, but it did. Perhaps because I had just had a pre-America experience in Fridays and was getting excited for all things USA? Whatever the reason, we had to venture inside. The store was four floors and every single one was packed with people. I don't know why so many people wanted to be there or even how so many people were in the area at that time but it happened and we lived it. See the below photo for some idea of what one tiny corner of the shop looked like:

Packed with people. And see the M&M options lining the walls? They had a Santa mix and a Reindeer mix! Most of the rest of the shop was taken up with merchandise, of which Adam wanted All The Things

Gripping tightly to his treasures

But they also had a section where you could create your own mix and watch the mixologists preparing it for you

And this cool little table

When we finally made it outside we realised the crowds weren't only in the M&M shop, they were everywhere. Apparently there are lots of people in London. And apparently they like to come out in the evening. This is in Leicester Square where there was a random little carnival.

Leicester Square

Our next plan for the day - yes we were very ambitious - was to go to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. When we arrived we were greeted with this crowd:

Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park

and decided quite soon afterwards that perhaps Saturday evening wasn't the best time to go. That brightly-lit arch you can see in the distance is the entry to the event and the crowd was shoulder to shoulder the whole way. We retraced our steps to the gate, uttering countless "excuse me, sorry, excuse me, sorry"'s along the way and then heard over the loudspeaker that the Hyde Park Tube Station was closed due to overcrowding. The next closest station didn't sound too far away so we headed for that. It ended up taking us about 30 minutes of exhausted power walking and backtracking to find the tube and then we finally crawled back to our hotel room and fell asleep. I think it was only about 5:30pm!

All in all it was a wonderful first day of our adventure. The weather was spectacular, the sights amazing, and the environment lovely. We were both surprised with how much we liked London and were definitely looking forward to the next day's adventuring.