First a note.  Cheryl has posted comments on days 6-11. Much information that I left out.  They make for interesting reading.

Now, on with the story:

What better way to start the day at the Alhambra hotel than with one of their Full English breakfasts?

Filled with English Goodness we headed out to meet our guide (Amber) for our walking tour of the changing of the guard.

Amber was a delight.  There were only six of us in the group so we got a very personalized tour.  She told stories, regaled us with history, took us to her favorite spots to watch what was going on, and explained what we were seeing – both the obvious and the military history behind the ceremonies.

The first change we saw was the changing of the horse guards.  The Life Guards (in red tunics) were turning over “queens cavalry” duties to the Blues and Royals (in dark blue tunics)

Shortly thereafter the Blues and Royals arrive and enter the parade ground.

They are formed up and inspected and there’s a lot of shouting and saluting and then everyone went to parade rest. At that point Amber explained that nothing would happen outside for about a half hour (They were changing out guards in the boxes and such.) so we left and headed over towards Buckingham palace to see the rest of the show.

Two other notes:

Leaving the horses to stand and the tourists to, well, stand with them we proceeded up the mall toward the palace.  Along the way Amber pointed out buildings we were passing and talked about their significance and the political (national as well as family) history involved.

Eventually we lined up against baracades and watched as a detachment of guards marched from the palace grounds to their assigned duty station at St. James’ palace (home of Will and Kate) and Clarence House (home of Chuck and Camille)

And, lets see if I can actually embed a YouTube video into this blog.

Incidentally, Amber put to rest several of the rumors you’ve read about in the grocery checkout lines.  Charles will succeed his mother as king. There is no way around it (unless he predeceases her). The British people, in general, love Camilla, as does the queen.

We waited a little longer and eventually saw the retiring contingent of Life Guards returning to their barracks.

At that point the show was over so we said good by to Amber, took a few photos of the palace

And headed to lunch.

That took a while but eventually we were fed and watered enough to survive the hike (about 4 blocks) to the tube stop.

Back at the hotel we decided that a nap was in order so we retired to our rooms to put our feet up, sleep, read, afternoon stuff.

We did a bit more wandering looking for dinner, but the hike was largely unsuccessful and we ended up at a small organic pizza place near the hotel. But the food was good so we were satisfied.

Tomorrow we head for Bath and Stonehenge.  It will be an early morning so I’ll say good night.

Good Night.