We were up early today because we didn’t want to miss the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Rick Steves, who wrote the books on travel in Europe said the changing takes place at 10:45 but to get a good view visitors needed to be there by 10 a.m. We got there at 10 after taking a nice stroll beside Hyde Park on our walk to Buckingham.

Our second planned trip of the day was to the Winston Churchill War Rooms, where he directed Great Britain’s WWII war efforts.

Numerous folks had already begun to gather at Buckingham Palace when we arrived, but there were several good spots open along the fence at the palace. So we waited patiently for the change to begin. There were two guards already in front of the palace but they did not have the huge bear skin hats that the Royal Guards wear. They stood at attention the entire time we were there—well, until they were changed—although every few minutes each would change shoulders on which his weapon rested. That was amusing to watch a couple of times.

At 10:45 we could hear a band approaching. It did not come by us, but did go in the front gate and turned left. Those soldiers were dressed like the two guarding the palace when we arrived. A few minutes later, a larger band, all with the bear hats on, marched in and stood in front of where we were standing. They also were accompanied by a detachment of soldiers wearing the red uniforms and bear hats.

Unless one knows—and we didn’t—the marching back and forth by soldiers from each of the two group of men, had very little meaning. In fact, it seemed a waste of time as they marched to one end of the graveled yard inside the palace gates and then back again. They did this numerous times.

By this time, we were watching the changing of the guard with 5,000 or so other folks who I’ll call our close friends from London. When I say close, I mean they were pressed against us and pinning us to the fence in front of the palace. One friend even put his hand in front of my face holding his cell phone to take photos.

As the changing was taking place, the all bear-hat band marched to the middle of the yard in front of the palace and started playing songs. And, they were not John Philip Sousa marches. They were modern sounds like Mama Mia, Dancing Queen, a song from Lion King. Karen and I agree this made the entire changing of the guard worthwhile. In fact, we could have stood and listened to the band play much longer. But alas, about noon, they shouldered their instruments and marched out the same way they came.

No royalty live at the palace. It dates back to James 1 back in the 17 hundreds. In 1838 a young lad broke into the palace three times, stealing food from the kitchen, and second time taking the queen’s underwear and a third time, placed himself on the royal throne. The palace contains 775 rooms—52 are royal and guest rooms and 188 are staff bedrooms. But, there are only 78 bathrooms or as the Brits call them, toilets.

During all of this, the bear-hatted soldiers took the place of the other soldiers on the front of palace. It sprinkled some during the ceremony but not enough to dampen our spirits.

It took the crowd a while to disburse and we headed for the Churchill War Rooms. They were located in the basement of a building in Whitehall. And it was a very top secret operation. It was staffed with the top ministers in Great Britain along with military and Prime Minister Churchill.

It was a good little hike over to the war rooms from Buckingham Palace. Our entry time was 1:30 and we needed to grab a bite to eat. We found a bagel shop not too far and both ordered bacon and egg bagels. What we think of as bacon and what the Brits do are two different things. Brit bacon is more like our country ham. It is good but just not bacon like we think of. It took a little longer than expected for our order to arrive and it was getting past 1 p.m. so we got our bagels “take away” and ate them as we walked several blocks back to the war rooms.

As we were standing in line, we met a couple on tour from Virginia. He was a career military man and said he had been to Camp Lejeune numerous time. And, they were about to move to Durham in the next few months to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

The actual war rooms are almost claustrophobic. Low ceilings, not a lot of light but what we learned touring it was pretty amazing. The Brits had the ceilings reinforced with concrete even though it was a basement. They did not want any damage done by German bombers. No bombs were ever dropped on the war rooms.

Many of those who worked there slept and ate there as they directed the war effort. Churchill had a bedroom as did his wife Clementine, although they did not stay there all the time. In addition to the war rooms, the facility held a museum of the life of Churchill. One of the interesting facts is that Churchill did not like noise. Whistling was prohibited and loud talk in the halls was also forbidden.

We decided to walk over to Piccadilly Circus after the nearly two hours we spent underground in the war rooms. I’d always heard of the circus but had no idea what it was. Now I know. It’s a miniature New York Times Square. Shops, huge screens posted on the sides of buildings and thousands of folks milling around just like Times Square.

We didn’t linger because I also wanted to go to the “speakers corner” in Hyde Park. That’s a place where folks have over the years held forth on any topic of their liking. It was sort of a let down because what is there now is a concession stand with “speakers corner” painted on the rear. No one was speaking and we didn’t have anything to say.

It had been a long walking day and we were ready to get back to our hotel. Hotel du Notre Dame. By the time we got back, we had ended up walking nearly 11 miles and were ready for bed.

The top photo is the marching band during the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It gave an excellent concert. The bottom photo is the map room in the Churchill War Rooms. Only a very few of the many who worked in the war rooms was allowed in this room because it gave all the locations of British troops during the war.