fit for a Queen

day number two here in london started off with a tribute to one of the best bands of all time: the beatles. not only are they a music icon they are one of my personal favorites. so naturally, our first trip of the day had to be abbey road. made famous by the beatles' album.

not too shabby eh? we took about a million of these haha

after that it was back underground and off to start our checklist of all the places we still needed to hit! the girls split apart from us, while mike and i headed to buckingham palace to watch the changing of the guards ceremony. once again, it was so crowded! i couldn't believe how many people come to watch this every single day! it was definitely worth it to see though, although i was a bit dissapointed when i found out it's a myth you can go up to the guards and try to make them laugh. they're actually guarding the castle from the inside of the gates. oh well.

loving the england sunshine.

buckingham palace gates.

changing of the royal guard.

statue on top of the fountain at the palace. massive!

after buckingham it was off to see the london bridge and the tower of london, with a quick stop for some lunch. we had an interesting run-in with a giant ghoul trying to get us to take a tour through the "london bridge experience" apparently england's best haunted attraction. no thank you, but hey at least the tall man was a pleasant, quite witty chat. after i tripped and almost fell on the london bridge (and broke one my favorite pairs of shoes might i add!) we stopped for a lunch break. on our way to the tower bridge we found a small inside gallery of shops and resturants, very nice area.

it didn't fall down! that was just me...

the queen's walk. perfect for us :)

the london tower bridge is the one most people think of when they think "london bridge" it's the older of the two bridges and definitely the more ornate. if you walk across you are welcomed almost instantly by the tower of london, now turned into a museum and tourist attraction. inside you can see the crown jewels (completete with their own set of royal guards, apparently the most secure part of all london), the bloody tower, and even a reinactment. in addition, we got to witness a few guest arriving for a wedding occuring that afternoon as well! can you imagine? they must have been important. i almost couldn't believe all the history london has to offer, hundreds of years of royal families, allies, wars, etc. it's almost too much to keep track!

london tower bridge!

inside the tower of london, right before seeing all the crown jewels. sad we couldn't take pics in there but they were so gorgeous!