Finally! to London

Somehow we managed to live in Oxford for three months and never make it into London (other than to go to the airport!). So, the week before term started, we hopped on the Tube (that's a bus) and made our way over to the big city.

I would say you can't wait around for good weather in this country to see the sights- often it's wet and, being the wintertime, cold. But I often make fun of the rain over here. What I mean is, it's generally not raining so much as misting, drizzling, or some combination (think "mizzling"). Even though rain was forecast, I wasn't surprised or concerned.

But the weather was definitely not mizzling this particular Thursday- it was raining pretty steadily. We were determined to see some places, though, so we made our way through the wet streets to our first stop of the day (which happened to be Buckingham Palace).

There were a lot of people standing outside the Palace, and soon we were being shooed into certain spots for, well, we weren't sure what. Changing of the guard maybe? I seem to remember Rick Steves saying something about that happening at 11 a.m. 

Waiting for- something- in front of Buckingham Palace

Unfortunately, because of the weather and our particular location, this was all we saw:

Yep...that was pretty much it. The above video and Horse Guard you see below was all we really saw. An Australian couple standing nearby told us that had it not been raining so hard there would have been "trumpets and fanfare" for such an event. 

(Note to self: visit on day when not raining. Also, find new place to stand so as to see this.)

The Horse Guard 

Since the weather wasn't great, we opted for an indoor activity and made our way to the National Gallery in touristy Trafalgar Square. We rented an audio tour which took us around all their must-see paintings, and by the time we were done a few hours later it had [mostly] stopped raining. 

The rest of our day was spent walking around the city and then we finished with an evening concert. We saw the London Eye, a slow moving Ferris wheel with enclosed capsules that passengers can ride to get a view of the city; the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (well, I suppose we only heard Ben); had a snack at Covent Gardens while listening to a woman sing opera; and enjoyed a concert at St. Martin in the Fields Church

Overlooking Trafalgar Square from the steps of the National Gallery

Statue of George Washington on American soil (literally)

A performer at Covent Garden

View from inside the market

Trafalgar Square at night

Big Ben (which is the name of the bell, not the tower)

The London Eye (left) 

Brandon in front of the National Gallery 

Inside St. Martin in the Fields church (yes, there is a really weird glowing ball in the window)

National Gallery, left; St. Martin in the Fields, center