A visit to the Palace

The day before we were due at Buckingham Palace, we went for a walk along the Thames.
These modern apartments were just being built, by the Vauxhall Bridge

Battersea Power Station in the distance

We walked towards the Houses of  Parliament

I love this memorial to the wartime Special Operations Executive

The London Eye against the grey sky

Some of the mechanisms

The bright lights of a roundabout pierced the gloom

 We crossed on the Golden Jubilee bridge

...and on past Nelson's Column,

...pausing to admire the horse-drawn "carriage" (plastic, I think)

...and on we walked, down the Mall

We had a particular destination in mind

Buckingham Palace. We just wanted to check its location, ready for the next day.

And so, the next day found us in a taxi heading again to Buckingham Palace.

Except, this time, we were to go inside those gates.

There were lots of people queuing in the inner courtyard. All very smartly dressed 

These are the loos!

Daughter enjoying a joke in there.

We had to surrender our phones then, but we do have a few pictures of the big event,

These prints were sent to us last week

Outside, reunited with phones and cameras, people queued for official and family pictures

...as well as investigating real carriages, not like yesterday's plastic one!

The poor Beefeaters posed for hundreds of snaps!

That's the OBE itself

Daughter Ruth takes a picture

All three of us

What a great day!