We touched down ahead of schedule, so the bus driver took us to a small rest stop to relax for an hour; and to kill time. It was super cold! It wasn’t so much the temperature, but the chilly winds. We left at 7.30 and at 8+, a tour guide arrived.

We visited the Buckingham Palace and watched the Guard Change. The guards change shifts.
Points to note about Buckingham Palace:
- During the Guard Change, the guards aren’t the ones with bearskin hats, but the ones in blue, who are members of the British Army. These guards come only a few weeks a year, as they have other military things to do.
- The Queen stays on the first floor, while the King stays on the floor above her.
- When the Queen is present in the palace, the standard flag will be flown. If she isn’t in, the Union Flag will be flown instead.
- On her birthday (which was during our trip but we did not attend the parade because we were in other parts of U.K.), she goes to the top of the palace and waves to the people below.
- The staff has its own private quarters.

We also passed many more places; City Hall, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Big Ben and the famous Trafalgar Square.

About the places we passed:
- Big Ben is really big. It also has a miniature counterpart called Little Ben, which is very small compared to the actual thing.
- Trafalgar Square is where big events are held. It has a fountain in the middle of it and numerous statues around; one of them being a lion.
- There is a place called Piccadilly Circus. No, it’s not really a circus, but a place where many roads meet.
- We saw the famous London Bridge. We also saw Waterloo Bridge, which isn’t as big.
- There was a fire called the Fire of London some time ago. The fire lasted for 5 days. The fire sustained so long because firstly, the houses’ roofs were made of thatch, which was a material that caught fire very easily. Secondly, the winds were strong and this caused the fire to spread rapidly. The fire started in a bakery, where a careless worker left the stove fire burning.
- We passed the Royal College of Music, the railway station, the Blackfriars Bridge, County Hall and St. Albert’s Memorial. St Albert was Queen Victoria’s first cousin, but she was scheduled to marry him. Sadly, he passed away. Queen Victoria was so affected by his death that she built a memorial for him and wore black clothing for the rest of her days till she passed away.
- We also visited St Paul’s Cathedral. We did not get to go inside the actual building, but we went in the side of the building, where toilets and a small eatery are located. There was a gate to block us from going inside the actual cathedral. The toilets were very clean…but the food and water were ridiculously priced. But due to the immense thirst we had, a few of us bought water.

That's the London part of my first day.