London - Day One: Changing of the Guards, Westminster Abbey, Fish 'n' Chips, and "All That Jazz"

Wow! What a whirlwind! I got back last night (Sunday) from a 4 day trip to London. It was amazing - it was so awesome to get to see all of the things I have been picturing in my mind since I was a little girl! Seriously - I remember reading books about Big Ben and the Changing of the Guard when I was still in elementary school!

So... a strange observation before I begin: I was kind of taken aback at how my sense of "normal" is changing. Being in Holland, everyone has the ability to speak English for the most part, however, what you hear on the streets, on trains, in the super market, etc. is Dutch. I have gotten so used to just tuning conversations out because I can't understand them, that it was almost surreal to be hearing a language that I knew. (okay, sometimes, even British English was hard to understand, but I caught on pretty quickly). With that said...

I left Amsterdam on a night bus at about 5 am (with all the people going home from Queen's Day parties... still not quite used to how late people stay out here!), still really tired from the Queen's Day celebration the day before. What a treat I had as I flew out of Holland - all the tulip fields were in bloom, so I got to see the huge blocks of color as I left the Netherlands - check this out:

Blocks of Color as I flew over the Tulip Fields

We got into London around 8 am London time (one hour behind Amsterdam), and I proceeded to figure out how to get to my hotel, which was in the Shepherd's Bush part of town on the west side. I am proud to say that during the whole weekend, I did not get lost once - those of you that have ever travelled with me will really appreciate this - it was a true accomplishment! :)

I got to the hotel by about 10, and knew that the changing of the guard was going to be happening at Buckingham Palace around 11, so I hightailed it back to the "tube" (England's subway system", and boogied over to Buckingham palace, along with about 5000 of the Queen's other fans. Immediately after coming out of the underground, it began to rain (a common theme for the weekend). I quickly purchased a cheap umbrella (not having learned my lesson in New York over Christmas that cheap umbrellas never work), and made my way to the palace, just in time to see the guard changing. Honestly, I have to say that the ceremony was pretty under-whelming. I'm not a huge fan of crowds, and we were packed in there like sardines with pointy umbrellas to poke each other with. (Did I mention I was really tired from my early flight and the day before??). Anyways, it was interesting to see the fanfare with with this changing of the guard comes with - there are bands, guns, and lots of marching around in straight lines (oh, and a drum major - that made me smile!). Here are some pictures so you can see what I saw:

Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria Statue from a Distance

Guards at Attention

The Guards about to Change

After this, I wandered around London a bit, and ended up seeing Big Ben in all his glory (along with the Houses of Parliament). Truly impressive:

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

After taking about a million pictures (I'm only posting a select few of the 450 pictures that I took!), I wandered over to Westminster Abbey, which is a very famous church in which many kings and queens are buried, and which is where the coronation ceremonies of pretty much every king or queen of England has taken place since about 1100. (kind of amazing to think that North America hadn't even been discovered by Columbus at this point... we're just babies in this world!). I couldn't take any pictures inside (as is the case in many of the places I went). but here is what the outside looks like:

Westminster Abbey

After this amazing tour, I wandered around the city a bit more, touring the theater district (I guess I should say "theatre", and make sure you say that with a British accent!), and had dinner at a British pub. I had my first "real" fish and chips, and, I'm happy to say, I quite enjoyed my meal. People say that British food is not very good, but everything that I had during the trip (as you will see - I love taking pictures of my food), was quite tasty!

Outside diners enjoying their meals in the rain!

Following dinner, I went to see the musical "Chicago", which was absolutely phenomenal. I think Les Mis will always be my favorite, but I loved the singing performances of Chicago - the songs were in my head for the rest of the weekend, and I've now downloaded the soundtrack and am probably annoying the hell out of my neighbors with my singing... but anyways... :)

My First Real Fish and Chips

Chicago!!

That wraps up Day One... I didn't stay out much after the show (which ended at about 10:30), because I was terrified that I was going to get mugged on my walk back from the Tube to my hotel... it wasn't in the best part of town, so I just clutched my purse and walked like a woman on a mission. It seemed to work... ;)