Don't Trust the BBC

The owner of the flat we are staying in suggested BBC was the most accurate place to get our weather forecasts. Well Friday proved that the BBC is no better at predicting the weather than Canadian meteorologists.  What was supposed to be just a few light showers in the morning proved to be a steady rain all morning long - however later in the afternoon the sun came out for decent stretches of time, which also wasn't supposed to happen. We have resisted purchasing umbrellas so far, but paid the price yesterday getting fairly wet in between times on the bus.  The bus we were on was one of the many double-decker tour buses that drive around London all day.  You can't go more than a couple of minutes without seeing one it seems - they're everywhere.

The day began with a quick walk to our closest tube station and then a short walk to Trafalgar Square where we had pre-arranged to meet with Beth's sister Karen, along with her partner Talie and their children Emily and Noah.  When we discovered that our respective families would be in London at the same time we decided to meet and do something together - that something was to take one of these bus tours.

It didn't take too long to locate Karen and gang and so with the purchase of some tickets we were off on the tour.  These tours are known as "hop on hop off" meaning that at any point on the route you can get off to explore a particular site or area and then get back on a later bus.  Our first tour guide seemed to be a disgruntled Brit who didn't like his job and worse, he mumbled and the sound system was terrible.  What we did manage to hear is that the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace might not happen because of the rain. We got off at the Buckingham regardless and since the rain had stopped at that point were hopeful to see the changing of the guard.  What we saw were crowds of people and eventually a red coated band march past, preceded by an officer on a horse telling the crowds there would be no ceremony today because of the rain.  So we saw one group march past, and a little later a small group of mounted officers ride their horse past - but that was it.

Well not quite, we did see other things, like the palace (from a distance) and the beautiful grounds, including the Canada gate.  Perhaps the most unusual thing we saw were some police officers looking like a public works department, opening up some manholes that looked to be housings for power lines or something like that.  I wondered why the police were doing that - then it dawned on me, they were looking for bombs!  What a job - to go around checking every day in the nooks and crannies around the palace for possible explosive devices - or maybe this is only a current necessity because of the upcoming Olympics.  Either way, it was a bit un-nerving to realize what they were doing.

A picture of a mounted officer telling the crowds that there would be no Changing of the Guard ceremony today - with the marching band in red in the distance.  Note the officer's rain coat that was designed to also cover the horse somewhat.

After wandering around the public spaces around Buckingham a bit we re-boarded the tour bus, this time we had an excellent tour guide and a sound system that allowed us to hear what he was saying.  He pointed out all kinds of interesting places along the route and once we hit the theatre district we decided to disembark to find some lunch.  It was difficult finding a place large enough to seat 9 people together (most of the restaurants were quaint places with appealing menus, but tables of 4 seemed to be the maximum).  We finally found a lovely place where they could accommodate us and in we went for lunch - with members of our group having everything from Fish and Chips to Steak, Mushrooms and Guinness pie.  It was a fine meal and a nice chance to visit.  After lunch our tour continued, but that's for another post.