England – Day 04
We woke up to see the change of guards at Buckingham Palace (map).
Find out what times and days the change is happening. It is not every day. Also, in order to get a good spot plan to get there an hour before the start.
After the change, we visited the Royal Mews (map). Here you will get to see some of the royal horses and carriages. The Royal Mews is responsible for all the road travel arrangements for The Queen and members of the Royal Family.
The most impressive one is the Gold State Coach which is almost completely covered in gold leaf. This one is used on very special occasions and is expected to be used on the next royal coronation.
It was commissioned by George III in 1760. It was delivered to the Royal Mews and trialled on Nov 24, 1762.
From the mews, we walked to see Big Ben (map). Currently (in October 2019) the structure is under renovation all around the tower and you can only see the clock.
Nearby there are other sites worth visiting like the Houses of Parliament (map), Churchill War Rooms (map) and Westminster Abbey (map).
The Abbey has been the coronation church since 1066, and is the final resting place of 17 monarchs. The church we see today was begun by Henry III in 1245. It’s one of the most important Gothic buildings in the country, and has the medieval shrine of an Anglo-Saxon saint at its heart.
Next to Big Ben is a great view of the London Eye (map) and a nice place for a walk.
On our way to the British Museum (map), we enjoyed the view around the Whitehall Gardens prior to getting to our underground station.
We took a quick detour and stopped at Chettinad (map) a very nice Northern Indian restaurant. Northern Indian food is slightly different from your traditional Southern Indian food but equally delicious.
Now with a full belly, we arrived at the British Museum. My latest personal interest has been in Egyptian history and earlier, meaning that I spent most of my time in the great collections of Egyptian and Sumerian artifacts displayed in chronological order.
The museum has a lot to offer. You will need more than a full day to really see everything. Get one of the interactive guides to help you make the most of your visit. The museum is free to visit.
I explored the Aztec/Mayan room where you can see two replicas of the stelae from the site of Copan, Honduras. Also, they have a beautiful two-headed snake and skull covered with turquoise mosaic.
Once again we saw as much as we could and stayed until the museum was closed. We ran out of time to see more of the other wonderful artifacts from all around the world. You can spend a whole day and not see it all. Take advantage of the extra time on Fridays when the museum closes at 8:30pm.
Right outside the museum, we had a quick appetizer of candy roasted peanuts just before heading back to Chinatown. We decided to try Leong’s Legend (map) a Taiwanese restaurant and try their beef noodle soup. Very nice place with a great ambiance.
