03/29/03 Saturday

Early in the morning, Ashley dropped Cecil and me at Pachot's house in Epsom, just a few miles away. It's quite an experience driving thru the country-side, with their narrow streets and round-abouts, not to mention that they drive on the right-side. It seems that that there are no square blocks around here, with all the roads having rounded corners.

Pachot, Cecil and I then took the BritRail to Victoria, where we met Rommel Lao and Mon and his family. We all decided to take the sightseeing bus called the Big Bus Company to go around the city by bus for £15 each. Again, Mon got a family package for a lot less. The Big Bus has a live commentator who described everything that we passed by along the way.

We got off near the Buckingham Palace, the office and official home of the Queen, to watch the Changing of the Guards Ceremony at 11:30am. Initially, we saw around 30 Royal Guards, the Queen's Life Guards, marching around the grounds. These are the Royal Guards currently on duty, called the Old Guards. They were wearing gray uniforms, instead of the customary red uniforms. 

Later on, we saw a marching band coming from St James Park across the street to join them. And then another band marched in, with the Royal Guards who will start their shift, called the New Guards.  There were now a total of more than 100 guards on the ground.  They then started doing different formations on the ground until the New Guards approached the Old Guards to relieve them. 

The whole event lasted around 30 minutes. During winter-time, this ceremony is held only on odd-numbered days. It's held everyday, otherwise.

After the ceremony, we took some pictures of the Queen Victoria Memorial in St James' Park,  right in front of the Palace.  

Then we went to the shops of the Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews (Queens' horses) to buy some souvenirs. We then took the BigBus to Piccadilly Circus so we could have lunch in Chinatown, a short walk from there. Over lunch, Mel showed us pictures of his Irish-Polish wife and their two-year-old daughter.

After lunch, Mel had to meet other friends and catch his train back to Leeds. Mon and family decided to go back to their hotel, since the kids are not feeling well. Pachot, Cecil and I decided to take a cruise down the River Thames, from Tower Hill to Westminster. This is part of the BigBus package and it also has a live commentator.

From Westminster, we took the BigBus again to West End, near the Trafalgar Square. We dropped off Cecil at the Lyceum Theater, where she's watching "The Lion King" with the Fernandez family and Lizette and her two sons. Pachot and I walked over to the Cambridge Theater, just a few blocks away,  to watch 'Our House'. The show is quite entertaining and I would recommend it, though I had a difficult time following some of the dialogues and songs due to the actor's thick British accents.

"Our House" won the "Best New Musical" in the 2003 Olivier awards, equivalent to Broadway's Tony awards.  Set in present day Camden with a young cast, this contemporary and fast moving new musical features all the hits of the band Madness,  including 'Our House', 'It Must Be Love', 'Baggy Trousers', 'House Of Fun', 'One Step Beyond', 'My Girl' and 'Night Boat to Cairo'.

After the show, it was too late for us to meet up with our mates so we just took the Tube to Victoria and we were just on time to catch the last BritRail train back to Epsom. It was our last day together but we were not able to say our formal good-byes. I decided to just give them a call the next morning, and send them emails when I get back home.