June 8th a Palace, an Abbey and a Mouse

News Flash from Buckingham Palace  ....  --.   --.  ..   .--- -...   .--.   --- (simulated Morse code)
We ambled over to see the changing of the guard with a thousand or so other tourists.  People were outside the fence looking in at a couple of guards marching their ceremonial route of 10 or 12 steps.  The scene reminded me of people at the zoo.  The guards entered on horseback in full dress uniforms.  That part lasted about 2 minutes.  We couldn't get close to the courtyard fence to see any more.  The ceremony was cut short because it rained just prior to the scheduled time. The grandstands from the Jubilee were partially taken down, with large picturesque orange and white barricades surrounding the Victoria Monument, so the tourist viewing area was very limited. 

A quick slide through St. James park to Westminster Abbey.  Oops, we found Big Ben and the Parliament Building - it looked like a church to us.  Westminster is on the other side of the street.  We found a spot in the Abbey's cloister and had our picnic lunch next to the 1740 grave of the church's plumber.  As noted on his tombstone, he was a "great service" to the church.   The Abbey is home to many famous and humble people, mostly just rich.  It is a walk though centuries of English history.

A quick trip home to drop excess gear and freshen up for dinner and a play.

We had excellent oysters and mussels at Loch Fyne restaurant in Covent Gardens and, after four more turns than we needed, we arrived at St. Martin's Theater for the 24,801st performance of Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap.  We met a family from Sussex who were seeing the play with their two teens.  The dad said that this was the third generation to see the play. He said his grandmother brought his mother, his mother brought him and he brought his two children to this performance.  Granted, this is the celebration of the play's 60 years of performances.

Tube stops on our way.   More on that later...