The Royal Sighting

On Wednesday, our last full day in London, we set out to see Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard.  However, there was no Changing of the Guard because there was an official state visit, the King/Queen from Spain were coming for a visit.  And when other royals come, everyone has to show off their own pomp and circumstance, which was out in full force, and we were lucky enough to see.

The Queen's motorcade. 

On the roof of Buckingham, keeping watch. 

So many horses. 

The Queen!  And Prince Phillip. 

Canons. 

And Kate!

Flags lined the street, Great Britain and Spanish for the visiting royals. 

The Knight's Templar Church.  If these walls could talk, the stories they would tell. 

Matt wanted to find this street, Gracechurch, as this is where his Pop, his dad's dad, grew up. 

Squeezing every last minute out of our London time, we went and had afternoon tea at Bea's.  Tea and yummy treats.  Delish. 

My favorite was the clotted cream, but a close second were the macaroons ordered by John.  Abby had a brownie, Matt a lemon brownie and Emily a peanut butter and jelly yummy thing. 

Our next stop on our last day in London was to attend Evensong at St. Paul's.  It was so nice to have some quiet time in the Cathedral to sit and listen to the choir.  It really is quite something to attend a church service in a place like St. Paul's.  

Outside of St. Paul's, there were ping pong tables set up, as well as chairs and a large screen, showing Wimbledon.  So, playing some table tennis while watching real tennis.

We then walked along the South Bank, enjoying a nice London summer evening. Dinner was at Wahaca, one of the very few good Mexican places in London.

And, since it was our last night in London, one more stop for treats, these crazy popsicles that John desperately wanted to try. 

We had started out our day trying to get a good family picture at the Warren Street tube stop.  You may see one of these on our Christmas card.