Brown Girl in London

The weekend part 2: Buckingham

From Finsbury Park you can take either the Victoria Line or Piccadilly Line to Green Park to get to Buckingham. VL is probably faster but we went on PL b/c I didn't know you could take VL. Anyway, you get off at Green Park, about 10 or 11 stops away (15-20 minutes) and turn into Green Park (a park). It's massive, with large trees and lots of space to spread a blanket and have a picnic. A 5 minute walk through the park will get you to Buckingham. It was cool, watching it slowly appear through all the trees. There are cameras everywhere, security is definitely on high alert and there wasn't a garbage can in sight. We walked around, took lots of photos, and sat on the steps of the monument in front of the palace and waited for them to arrive. There were a lot of people, all different kinds, taking photos, chilling on the steps, but it was nice because it wasn't crazy busy. It was just a quick sort of walk around of the palace, I have to go back because I'd like to do a tour (I think they do them inside) and see the Changing of the Guard one morning. Oh, and maybe hand with the Queen.
After Buckingham we walked to find Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (aka the Palace of Westminster). These buildings are amazing I can't get tired of looking at them. I don't know anything about architecture but that's besides the point.

Again, this is another site I'll need to go back to, especially at night because the clock-tower is illuminated and supposedly looks wicked. Plus, Big Ben is the bell inside, not the actual tower, so I want to see that too although that might not be possible because they don't really allow people inside the tower. Ding Ding. The Houses of Parliament do allow guided tours, so I'll do that one day too.

We took a break then and went to the Red Lion pub for a bit. I'll post some more pics and the rest of the post tomorrow.

posted by RC @ 2:52 PM