Buckingham Palace-Change of Guards

In my 3 years of stay in England, I have visited Buckingham palace couple of times but I didn't get a chance to see the Change of Guards. This time when my parents visited England, we took them to Buckingham Palace for the change of guards. It's the quintessential tourist thing to do here. We've been so lucky with the Spring weather here with beautiful sun shine.

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarchy. In a previous incarnation, the ground where Buckingham Palace now stands was a mulberry garden cultivated by King James I as food for silkworms. The silk industry he hoped to nurture never materialized, and eventually a roadhouse was built there, followed in due course by Buckingham House. Buckingham Palace was just a very big house called Buckingham House until 1837 when it became the official royal palace when Queen Victoria became the Queen of England.

When we arrived, there was a mass of people already at the gates of Buckingham Palace, so if you want a front row view, you need to arrive earlier than this. I thought that it was just a simple change of guards and I never really understood why there is so much fuzz about it. But I understand it now. First of all there was a “parade” of guards and a band that walked up to the palace. The bands played several times during the changing and then there was a parade of guards and band leaving the palace.

For those who are interested here is a synopsis of the ceremony.

It has been the duty of the British army for many years to monitor and protect the Royal palace. There are foot guards and guards that ride horses. They are known as The Guard and The Queen’s Life Guard. There are five foot guards. They are Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards. The Guard are the infantry soldiers and their duties are to watch and protect the royal family in St. James Palace and Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s Life Guard are the cavalry and they ride the horses. They are mounted at the gates. These horses guard the entrances of both the Buckingham Palace and St. James Palace. The Life Guard remain on their horses from 10pm until 4pm. The next four hours are the standing guards, they remain posted at the gate and from 8pm until 7am the gates are locked.

Change of Guards Parade occurs at 11am in the morning at the forecourt of the Buckingham Palace. In the summer, Guards are changed everyday and in the winter, the Guards are changed every other day. This 45 minute ceremony is free to watch. The New Guard marches with the Guard Band from the Wellington Barracks. After the Guard Band are inspected by the adjutant they play music while the new guard is then inspected. When the New Guard arrives to the Palace the old guard will take his place standing on the North side and the new Guard would stand on the South side. At that point, the old guard will hand over during ceremony and the sentries are changed as well. Then the Old Guard will march out of Buckingham’s Palace in a slow march with the Corps of the Band. The band is then given a command to now pick up the pace and head back to the Barracks.

There is no way you can position yourself so that you view the entire ceremony. The best thing to do is determine what aspects you really want to see and find a good spot to witness that portion.

This is a great event to witness in London and feel the essense of British Royalty.

In The Mean Time

The reason we visited Greenwich has to do with Greenwich Mean Time. Only 20 minutes from Central London, Greenwich is easy to reach by Docklands Light Railway, tube, rail, bus or riverboat. Greenwich is a cute village and seems like a million miles away from London, a great place to come on the weekend and browse the town. We walked through Greenwich Park. Here there were many people enjoying the weather,having picnics, reading and relaxing. We slowly walked up the to the observatory, which meant the path gradually inclined.

Greenwich Mean Time was named after this place because this is where the Prime Meridian was established. And since no one seems to know what that is, I will try to explain it. It was easy enough to measure the Earth from the equator, horizontally, but there was no easy way to measure the Earth vertically. So, one astronomer divided the Earth into lines vertically and since he was based in Greenwich, the starting point, became Greenwich. So, the Prime Meridian is not nearly as cool as the equator. It's just a man made line.

From the observatory there is a great view of London. The Royal Observatory was built in 1675 by Charles II to solve the problem of longitude. It was originally designed by Christopher Wren. In the octagonal room, astronomers studied the stars and planets. The observatory was very interesting, but it was a bit too scientific for me, too much information that I could not comprehend.

All in all Greenwich was a nice experience.

Roman Bath

Being in Reading, Bath was the most easy weekend destination for us and we have visited this lovely English Countryside couple of times. Bath is most famous for it's historic spas and hot springs. The Romans founded this place when they invaded England and created a Roman Bath in town.
In our first visit to Bath, we explored the Roman Baths on the first day. Bath has some walking tours available around the city but we decided to go it on our own and just wander around the city itself isn't big at all. A five minute walk from the rail station we came upon Roman Baths and Bath Abbey. These baths are about 2000 years old and are the reason for the city name of Bath. The tickets cost about £12 and is definitely a must-go, after all that's what the city is most famous for. We toured the whole complex and it is amazing how big it is.

There is also a museum of Roman artifacts which were found at that site. We spent over 2 hours here and were not disappointed. We then went to Bath Abbey and saw one of the most beautiful churches. This is the church where the first King of England was crowned. It had a calming effect and we were rejuvenated. We bought some souvenirs at the Abbey shop and walked towards the circus. Circus is a series attached houses built in the late 18th century in a half-circle around a traffic circle. We walked around the Circus, admiring the building architecture and wondering at the prices of these famous homes. We then walked towards Royal crescent to have lunch. We sat in the grass and enjoyed a hearty meal. Then we took our walk along the Pultney bridge and the river Avon.
The next morning we woke up and had a full English breakfast which was pretty good. We then did two bus tours around the central part of Bath and then around the edges of Bath. Both of these were very informative and interesting.

The architecture and style of the buildings in Bath along with the sunshine makes it a beautiful city. There was also a huge green space and it was just so pretty.
All the buildings in Bath look old and a lot of the streets look like something from Rome. They also have a lot of pretty houses built on the hilly countryside surrounding the city, which makes it even more charming.

Late in the afternoon, we went to Prior Park, a 28 acre landscape garden which is set in a dramatic site running down a small steep valley, with fine views of the city of Bath. This park's major attraction is a picturesque Palladian bridge (one of only 4 left in the world)
In the evening we started walking back to Bath, got pictures of Bridge and Avon river before taking our train back to Reading.

Bath was simply stunning and sensational and a must-see for visitors in England.

Stonehenge-A Marvellous Mystery

It was a great experience to have finally seen the famous ring of massive stones! Yes that's Stonehenge. Situated in a vast plain, Stonehenge was truly impressive! I was awed by these massive, 5000 year-old stones. Some of the largest and heaviest stones where shipped from Wales, at least 100 miles away. There is something interesting about them and the thing that strikes the most is probably that no-one can pretty much come to a conlusion in terms of Who build the Stonehenge? How did they do it? Why did they build it? A burial site? A place for worship?

Regardless its original purpose, this is a place for magic and mystery, a place for imagination and a glimpse to the ancient history. I am honored to see Stonehenge with my own eyes. With continuing preservation, I hope the stones stand for many many more years to come.