Two tourists

Another kiwi girl was crashing at Paul's while I was there as well. Having come over from Canada and feeling the jet lag, I hadn't seen too much of her but she made and appearance and so today we decided to be tourists together.

After a late breakfast at around 10:30, we headed off to watch the change of guards which we were told commences at 11:30. Heaps of time. Or was it?

We were still on a tube at 11:30 and so figured we'd missed it but would go check out Buckingham Palace anyway. Turned up around 11:50 and there were still massive crowds surrounding it. We joined the mayhem, listened to the band play a few tunes and even saw a guard inside be replaced by another. Was that it? Was that the change? Pretty dissapointing I thought. Or we both thought so really and prepared to head off to see what else was around. But before we did so I went and spoke to a local bobby to ask if all was done. Not even close he replied!

At 12am (2 mins away) was when the gates would open and the guards pour out with all the finaries. Cool. So we went to watch. As he had said, the gates opened at 12 and some guys marched out and then some others and then they were gone. Left me wondering once more what all the fuss was about. We then walked the Princess Diana Memorial walk through some Park whilst heading on to see Big Ben. Nice park, had some cool squirrels and pelicans too. After stopping to pose for a photo with one of those guards who can't talk to you (wouldn't even reply when i tried to be polite and ask if it was ok to grab a snap) we made it to Big Ben, saw it was indeed a big clock, and then headed over to Westminster Abbey next door, saw it was indeed an old church, and then the parlimentary buildings and saw they were indeed some old buildings filled with old boring men. Splitting up here as Natasha headed off for a tour of London by bus, I made me way to the Natural History museum to have a look at the big boys. Dinosaurs. And they were HUGE! I reckon it is easy to say you can imagine how big but until you actually see them, I don't think I truly did appreciate it. They were HUGE! Simply HUGE! Also on show are like 200 000 other specimens all worth a look. I even tried to help them out by telling them their Moa's stance was obsolete and that today it is widely agreed upon that they didn't stand with their neck stretched at the upright but instead it was horizontal in a sense to the ground. They asked my email and we'll see what comes of it, haha. Also stopped by the science museum next door which had a few interesting stops. Learnt my brain thinks like that of a woman according to one test I took. Oh and Natasha drove from Canada to Mexico with some friends so it can be done!