We didn’t see him, though. When the British flag flies over Buckingham Palace, it signals that King Charles is there.

We decided to see Buckingham Palace this day, so we grabbed a ride on the Tube and took the long walk through St. James Park. To our great surprise, the Royal Guard came marching down the street, and we got to hear and see them with their musical instruments, rifles, bayonets, and horses. Quite impressive for this Texan.

When the parade was over–we think it was practice–we joined the throngs of people headed for the palace. I mean throngs. Hundreds. The changing of the Guard had been canceled due to some event the palace was having, and we could occasionally spot tents and tables set up on the grounds. The flag was flying on top of the palace, and we scanned the balconies for the King, but no luck. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. It was very crowded and getting very warm. A European heat wave hit just in time for our trip! Botheration…

I was ready for some air conditioning by the time we got to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. The ORIGINAL 1971 cafe. We enjoyed large salads and refreshing cold water and toured the artifacts, such as one of Madonna’s gowns, jackets worn by Elton John, the Beatles, and Scott Weyland of Stone Temple Pilots, plus various signed guitars, photographs, etc. Our server was familiar with Texas, having lived in Houston for a while. We enjoyed chatting with him.

Of course, I couldn’t visit the cafe without checking out the shop across the corner. I grabbed a souvenir cap, stickers, and a lapel pin. So hard to choose!

From there, we headed to Trafalgar Square and then the British Museum. We were too tired to see the whole museum, but I did get to view the Rosetta Stone, ancient Greek sculptures, and pieces of the Greek Parthenon.

After that, we enjoyed fish and chips at Prince Alfred’s pub and called it a day.

Stay tuned for the Portobello Market…