Our last day in London

We spent our last day in London today. We took the tube to Green Park and walked to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the Guard. We staked out viewing spots on the fountain steps in front of the Palace so we had good views of the bands, horse brigades, guards and carriages parading by. One open horsedrawn carriage went by with an older man in it - we're pretty sure it was Prince Philip - finally a brush with royalty - our trip is complete! [Okay - we have no confirmation that it really was Prince Philip but that's our story and we're sticking to it.] Later some horsedrawn carriages went by with visiting dignitaries in them. The dignitaries had cameras and took photos of us taking photos of them.

We walked through Hyde Park and had lunch by the water at the Serpentine. We sat at a picnic table under a huge willow tree - nice shade after being under the hot sun at Buckingham Palace. There was a birdnest of coots with two eggs close to our table, so we got to watch them take turns nesting on the eggs and bringing more sticks for the nest. We walked from there to Kensington Park and saw the Princess Diana memorial fountain (kind of disappointing) and the Albert Memorial (kind of scary). We caught a doubledecker bus at Royal Albert Hall to Victoria Station (saw Harrods as we drove by) and took the tube back to Cockfosters. Tonight we're going to dinner at a French restaurant near Jan and Jim's billiards club.

Randy - I loved Stonehenge! One of my favorite parts of this vacation. BTW, do you know how to brew bitter? I'll need to find a source for bitters when we get back.

Debbie - tell Catherine I'll be flying home tomorrow. I bought her a stuffed Nessie and a Harry Potter trumps card game - maybe that will help her figure out where I've been. :)

Elaine - see you tomorrow at the airport! So far, our plane is on time and we've got our boarding passes. Thanks!