DAY 15 – MONDAY, MAY 18, 2026
After a good night’s sleep, we were up and ready to tackle another full day in London. We left our hotel and grabbed a quick pastry and coffee/tea from a nearby café before making our way to Buckingham Palace.
Even though we arrived well before the 11:00 AM Changing of the Guards ceremony, apparently several hundred other tourists had the exact same plan. We slowly worked our way along the fence line until we finally secured a spot with a decent view into the palace courtyard. In the end, the effort paid off.
The ceremony itself was impressive to watch. The incoming guards marched in with military precision while the outgoing guards prepared to end their shift. One of the funniest surprises came from the band, which mixed traditional music with a very unexpected rendition of “Danger Zone” from Top Gun. Hearing that while standing in front of Buckingham Palace was not something we had anticipated, but the crowd absolutely loved it.
Another thing we found interesting was that the actual changing of the guards was far less dramatic than we expected. While the band and marching formations drew everyone’s attention, the real exchange of the guards happened rather quietly and efficiently in the background. It turns out the spectacle is as much about ceremony and tradition as the actual shift change itself.
After the ceremony ended and the guards paraded away, we wandered toward Westminster Abbey for our 1:30 PM tour. Since we had a little extra time, we decided to stop for lunch nearby. A Google search led us to One Great George Street, which turned out to be a hidden gem. The building serves as the headquarters for the Institution of Civil Engineers and also contains a café open to the public.
We poked our heads into the stunning Great Hall and admired the beautiful domed atrium before heading downstairs to the café. It ended up being one of our favorite lunch stops of the trip. The cafeteria-style café offered delicious and surprisingly inexpensive food in a quiet and comfortable setting. Better yet, while we were eating, a rain shower rolled through London. By the time we finished lunch, the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to reappear. Perfect timing.
From there it was just a short walk to Westminster Abbey, where our timed-entry tickets allowed us to walk right in. We spent the next couple of hours exploring this enormous and historically significant church. Everywhere you looked there were memorials, statues, and tombs honoring Britain’s most famous figures. It truly felt like a who’s who of British history.
Several kings and queens are buried within the Abbey, along with scientists, military leaders, politicians, writers, and artists. One of our favorite areas was Poet’s Corner, filled with memorials to literary legends including Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, and many others.
We had also purchased tickets for access to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, located high above the Abbey near the roofline. After climbing several flights of stairs, we were rewarded with incredible views overlooking the interior of the Abbey along with fascinating exhibits about its history and treasures. The galleries contained a number of historical artifacts, including a copy of the Magna Carta. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, so you will just have to trust us when we say it was absolutely worth the extra ticket.
When we finished at the Abbey, we realized we were perfectly positioned to follow another Rick Steves walking tour, this one through Westminster. The route took us past Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Parliament Square, and up Whitehall past numerous monuments and government buildings.
Quite by accident, our timing once again worked out perfectly. We arrived at the Royal Horse Guards just as the Dismounting Ceremony was beginning for the day. We watched as the mounted guards were relieved of duty, dismounted, and led their horses back in for the evening. It felt like one of those unexpected travel moments you could never really plan for.
Our walk eventually brought us to Trafalgar Square, where we still had a little time before dinner. Since the National Gallery sits right on the square and offers free admission, we decided to spend about 45 minutes exploring. We headed directly to the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist rooms and enjoyed seeing works by artists whose paintings we instantly recognized. It was a quick visit, but a wonderful one.
For dinner, we stopped at a pub in London’s West End before heading to the Dominion Theatre to see The Devil Wears Prada. The musical follows the same basic storyline as the movie and features music by Sir Elton John. It was a fun and entertaining production and seemed especially timely with the sequel now playing in movie theaters.
After the show, we enjoyed a final 20-minute walk back to our hotel through the London streets, adding a few more steps to an already full day before calling it a night and getting ready for another day of adventures in London.
Hammond Adventures 