Henry

My wife and I will be visiting London 9/4-7/2004. We have tickets for
Buckingham Palace on 9/6. We want to see the changing of the guard
first. Can anyone tell us how early to be there and where is the best
place to watch the ceremony? Which tube station is the best to use?
Any assistance is appreciated. We have never been to London before.

Owain

"Henry" wrote
    | My wife and I will be visiting London 9/4-7/2004.

I *really* had to think about that date :-)

    | We have tickets for Buckingham Palace on 9/6. We want to see
    | the changing of the guard first. Can anyone tell us how early
    | to be there and where is the best place to watch the ceremony?
    | Which tube station is the best to use?

The official website at www.royal.gov.uk should answer most questions.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page570.asp (State Rooms)
The Guard Change takes place at 11:30 daily from April until the end of June
and on alternate days for the rest of the year, weather permitting.

Provisional Schedule for 2004 (Subject to change)
September even numbered dates (2, 4, 6, 8 etc.)

The new guards arrive at the forecourt of the Palace at 11:30 from
Wellington Barracks. The journey takes about 5 minutes and the soldiers are
accompanied by a band. The ceremony is conducted on the Palace forecourt and
takes approximately forty minutes to complete.

Nearest Underground Stations: Victoria, Green Park, and Hyde Park Corner.

Map at
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page2195.asp

There are details of the ceremony at
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page378.asp

The site at
http://www.changing-the-guard.com/FAQs.htm
is selling their own guidebook; it says:

The activity around the Palace itself starts at 10.45am, however
particularly in summer some visitors will arrive as early as 9.30am to get a
'good' position. If you arrive early you can always walk over to either St
James' Palace where the 'old guard' parade or to Wellington Barracks where
the 'new guard' parade, ...
There are many good places to stand, and at the fence in front of
Buckingham Palace is not always the best location, towards Wellington
Barracks is great for photos;there are lots more good hints in the guide
book Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace. ...
The Changing of the Queens Life Guards (Mounted on Horses) continues to
take place daily at Horseguards, at 11.00am Mondays to Saturdays and 10.00am
on Sundays. There are also excellent photo opportunities at St James' Palace
and Wellington Barracks. ...
4.00pm The 4 o'clock Parade Horse Guards is the official entrance to
Buckingham Palace, therefore The Queen's Life Guard is mounted here and is
inspected daily at 4 o'clock.

There's a photo gallery at
http://www.freefoto.com/browse.jsp?id=31-36-0

Owain

Owain

"Owain" wrote
...

One photo that probably won't make it on to the official site

http://humorshack.com/archive/cartoons/185.jpg

"You know it's too hot when ..."

Owain

Freda

Dont go and stand at the fence.
.
Go down the mall about 50-100metres and wait for the guard to march up the
mall from St. James Palace (from memory)and past you towards the palace.
then quickly go toward Victoria fountain , turn left across the gardens to
the Australia gate (which is left of Victoria fountain as you look at Palace
from Mall) and then wait near there for the other guard to march in from
Wellington Barracks from Birdcage walk (also from memory).
This way, you will get to see both old and new guard and bads marching in
and lots more action than if you glue yourself to the fence.
reason is :
They go into Palace, stand for about 30mins , play one tune and nothing much
else happens that is worth seeing (imho) and having to wait from about 8 am
to get at front by fence, you only get to point of wanting to go to the
toilet and there isnt one so its either a long wait with crossed legs or
lose your front row place and its not worth it anyway.

After seeing the Palace I suggest you go down to the Royal mews along
Buckingham Palace road and Buckingham Gate alongside the Palace and have a
look at all the state coaches especially the coronation coach and if you are
lucky the horses will be there also. Yes there is an entry fee.
Horses are sent to various functions so not always there.
Look at this url for info re times etc
http://www.aboutbritain.com/RoyalMews.htm

Freda
--
Please reply to the list as my email address is a fake
"Henry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] om...
    > My wife and I will be visiting London 9/4-7/2004. We have tickets for
    > Buckingham Palace on 9/6. We want to see the changing of the guard
    > first. Can anyone tell us how early to be there and where is the best
    > place to watch the ceremony? Which tube station is the best to use?
    > Any assistance is appreciated. We have never been to London before.

[email protected]

"Owain" wrote
    >"Henry" wrote

    >>My wife and I will be visiting London 9/4-7/2004.

    >I *really* had to think about that date :-)

Owain is right, Henry, the writing of dates can be a problem.
In the UK the fourth of next month is 4/9/2004.
To avoid misunderstanding best use letters for the month,
then day/month or month/day are equally understandable.

The other thing is to make sure you give a place name in full.
I have seen someone at Heathrow with a ticket for Gloucester,
the town, when he really wanted to go to Gloucester Road in London

Alan Harrison

"Owain" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "Owain" wrote
    > ...
    > One photo that probably won't make it on to the official site

Rather an old one, too, since it has been many years since Liz appeared at
the Trooping of the Colour on a horse. Nowadays she sits/stands on a dais
and wears civilian clothes. (Note that Liz's presence indicates the photo
was taken at the Troping of the Colour. She doesn't put in an appearance at
the changing of the guard.)

Alan Harrison

James Silverton

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] om...
    > "Owain" wrote
    > >"Henry" wrote
    > >>My wife and I will be visiting London 9/4-7/2004.
    > >I *really* had to think about that date :-)
    > Owain is right, Henry, the writing of dates can be a problem.
    > In the UK the fourth of next month is 4/9/2004.
    > To avoid misunderstanding best use letters for the month,
    > then day/month or month/day are equally understandable.

There was once a custom of using Roman numbers for the month. It's a
pity that no-one seems to use it any more. I suppose it might not be a
bad thing to use it on an international news group like three-letter
currency symbols. Since it is pretty obvious, no explanation would be
necessary unlike names of months which depend on language. For
example, today is 8/viii/04, using the British ordering.

James V. Silverton
Potomac, Maryland, USA

Bogus Address

    >>> My wife and I will be visiting London 9/4-7/2004.
    >> I *really* had to think about that date :-)
    > Owain is right, Henry, the writing of dates can be a problem. [...]
    > The other thing is to make sure you give a place name in full.
    > I have seen someone at Heathrow with a ticket for Gloucester,
    > the town, when he really wanted to go to Gloucester Road in London

Leaving the noun off an <adjective> <noun> placename is the most
confusing mistake America visitors make. I regularly get the bus
out here from Edinburgh city centre. At this time of year, you
can count on almost every passenger uplift at the North Bridge
having an American who wants to go to "Mayfield". Some of the
buses even have Mayfield on the destination board. Any tourist
who actually went there would be in for a surprise - it's a
council housing scheme 7 miles out of town 300-400 feet up a hill
with no hotels or B&Bs whatever and the only tourist attraction a
ruined Roman fort on the hilltop. What the tourists usually want
is the B&B district about one mile south of where they're getting
on the bus (i.e. it's really in walking distance anyway). This
contains Mayfield Gardens, Mayfield Road, Mayfield Terrace, East
Mayfield, West Mayfield and Mayfield Place, most of which have B&Bs
or small hotels in them. Half of the buses going to Mayfield go
along Mayfield Gardens and all go close to the other "Mayfield"
streets.

Why the bus companies don't have a "Which Mayfield?" sign on these
few stops I don't know, it would save their drivers a lot of time
explaining geographical terminology or reading tourists' faxed or
badly xeroxed maps for them.

Also in Edinburgh, Hermitage Drive/Gardens are close together and
five miles away from Hermitage Park/Place/Terrace. There are other
street names where this happens. Taxi drivers must love the extra
ten-mile round trips they get from it.

========> Email to "j-c" at this site; email to "bogus" will bounce <========
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/purrhome.html> food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music.

Mike O'sullivan

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] om...
    > "Owain" wrote
    > >I *really* had to think about that date :-)
    > Owain is right, Henry, the writing of dates can be a problem.
    > In the UK the fourth of next month is 4/9/2004.
    > To avoid misunderstanding best use letters for the month,
    > then day/month or month/day are equally understandable.

What could be more straightforward, day/month/year. It's the US system
that's confusing :-)

The Reids

Following up to Henry

    >Which tube station is the best to use?

After changing the guard, walk across horse guards parade and
through St James Park or along the mall to Buckingham Palace,
about 15 minutes.
--
Mike Reid
London & London walks inc. Thames path
"http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/london.htm"
(see website for email address)

The Reids

Following up to Alan Harrison

    > (Note that Liz's presence indicates the photo
    >was taken at the Troping of the Colour. She doesn't put in an appearance at
    >the changing of the guard.)

Further to that, changing the guard is what it sounds like,
Trooping the colour is an old annual ceremony designed to make
sure the troops knew what their colours (flag) looked like so
they could rally to them in battle. Liking a tradition the army
still does it.
BTW the bear fur hats are called "bearskins" not "busbees".
--
Mike Reid
London & London walks inc. Thames path
"http://www.fellwalk.co.uk/london.htm"
(see website for email address)

Bogus Address

    > BTW the bear fur hats are called "bearskins" not "busbees".

That might be what the army or some other would-be custodian of
English usage might say, but in fact "busby" is what everybody
in Britain calls them, and if they hear of somebody wearing a
"bearskin" they'll think of Fred Flintstone.

========> Email to "j-c" at this site; email to "bogus" will bounce <========
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/purrhome.html> food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music.

The Reids

Following up to bogus address

    >That might be what the army or some other would-be custodian of
    >English usage might say, but in fact "busby" is what everybody
    >in Britain calls them, and if they hear of somebody wearing a
    >"bearskin" they'll think of Fred Flintstone.

No, people will know what you mean when you say "bearskin".
--
Mike Reid
If god wanted us to be vegetarians he wouldn't have made animals out of meat.
Wasdale-Lake district-Thames path-London "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Eat-walk-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap