My Trip to the UK and Ireland, Day 12

Here we are, by Westminster Abbey. We weren't able to get in the last time we came here, so now we were going to check it out before we had to leave this afternoon.

The walls were quite ornate, as was expected. I'm going to go ahead and assume that all these people represent people as well... we've got the 12 disciples there... and Jesus... and then.. I'm going to guess prophets.

Picture taking is not allowed inside Westminster Abbey, so much time has passed. I'm walking from the main section of Westminster off to one of the wings, I believe. There were many kings and queens and royals buried here, and they've got all sorts of monuments set up for them.

A monument to people who sailed around the world. Orbem Circumnavicarunt Sir Francis Drake; Captain James Cook; Sir Francis Chichester

We're back in the main section... I'm sneaking these pictures as a guard walks back and forth. Not too shabby for shots from the hip.

Another sneak shot.

This is Abraham Lincoln. Yeah, I have no idea why it's here.

We're now approaching the changing of the guard... and in the distance, we can see... the guards.

Here they are, either practicing or getting ready to go.. the band is to the right.

More guards set to go.

The Band... soon they broke out into the traditional British war anthem: Hawaii 5-0!

More band playing.

Now we're headed to the palace, where the changin gof the guard will take place.

There's a fair number of people here already. We were by a large group of Asian tourists... which worked out well, cause we could see over them. [No Ken Shum's in the group.]

The streets were blocked off, and guarded... by a dude on a horse.

It began to get more crowded.

And here they come.

..walking down the street...

... get the funniest looks from everyone they meet..
We were in a good spot, as they'd march right past us.

And they marched right past us.

And everyone took lots of pictures.

And then some guards showed up.

And now, the changing of the guard ceremony thinger..

Here's a clip of them doing their thing.

Here's me at the changing of the guard.... and you were afraid I wasn't going to do it.

Their doing the whole big inspection thinger.

I don't know if you can see, but there was a giant metal fence/gate in the way.

I took many, many pictures like this.. and I'm trimming most of them out. it was the last day and I had a decent amount of camera memory left, so...

That one dude is marching away.

Now these sweet looking horse dudes showed up. As you can see, it's gotten quite crowded.

The guards are now marching this one dude away.. probably to execute him for screwing up or something.

Now the band began to play again.

And important people inside the gates watched.

Woo! This is our plane to Boston.

They had video games on the plane. Including Zelda!

I chose to play street fighter two. If you can see, I've just defeated M. Bison for the second time, thus beating the game, and making me the most amazing person ever.

Free Beer!
Best Airline Ever.

Here we are, flying high.

We are now in Boston. I looked all over for Fenway, but I have no clue where it's at.

Now we're just stuck on a plane...

We're in Chicago! After a rather long delay, and completly skipping our flight to Washington D.C. [we got a direct flight from Boston to Chicago], we made it to Chicago, and my parents picked us up. We got some food, watched a little TV, then crashed that night, and headed back to Michigan the next morning, after a filling breakfast. Tuuk even called us to welcome us back!

here we are, leaving the O'Hare parking lot. There's My dad, Robb, and my Mom.

Our packs survived the journey, and the pictures have gone full circle.

Joel and I bought "Mind the Gap" T-shirts while we were walking from the changing of the guard to the Underground station.

And here we are, arriving back at home the next morning.

Vacation over!

It was a great trip, and much thanks to Joel and Robb for all the hard work they put into the planning, and getting us from one place to another, and for all around just being really fun guys to hang out with the entire trip. I had a spectacular time.