London Day 4

Buckingham Palace was the destination this morning. We had our Tube route all planned out and right as we got to the platform we were told the route had some technical issues. We hustled over to a different line and made it to the Palace about 10 minutes late for our 9:30 entry time. The Palace was amazing. I am a bit ambivalent about the monarchy, but they sure know how to decorate a house! I was a lot more impressed than I expected to be. The amount of people it takes to run that place puts "Downton Abbey" to shame. After the tour we had some expensive snacks in the garden cafe and then lingered around the outside of the palace for a little while. We were too late for the changing of the guard so we will try to see that tomorrow . We walked up the mall to the "Phantom of the Opera" theatre and got tickets for Thursday night. The theatre was near Piccadilly Circus so we checked that out. There was a huge sporting goods store on the corner that had a whole floor dedicated to soccer jerseys. Luke was in heaven! Amy and Ellie had gone ahead to the National Portrait Gallery and Luke and I met them there. We were all a little tired so we took our time with the older portraits and breezed through the newest ones. We took the Tube back to the hotel and rested for an hour or so and then headed out to dinner. We ate at a take away noodle joint that was quite good. In addition to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace tomorrow , we will attempt to hit the British Museum.