In Honour of the City of London - Day 7*

July 24th - July in England has been a treat for my Midwestern predisposition to temperate weather.  And although most days have been overcast, we have had very little rain.  But a whisper of raindrops greeted the four of us who ventured out this morning to see the ceremonial changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  By the time we exited the tube station at Green Park the rain was in full evidence, and brollies dotted the sidewalks.  Undaunted, we made our way to St. James Palace -  the St. James Palace detachment of the old guards form up here in Friary Court before marching over to Buckingham Palace to join up with the Buckingham Palace detachment.

A few hearty tour groups huddled under cover waiting for the guards to emerge.  We waited along with them, and enjoyed watching a young guard struggle to stand at attention.  The classic image of these guards, like the one on the other side of the courtyard, is that they stand perfectly still, never wavering in their duty.  But this particular guard hadn't quite mastered that yet.  He would lean on one hip, then the other, and at one point I saw him heave a tremendous sigh.  It would seem his two-hour shift just couldn't end fast enough.

After waiting several minutes past the scheduled time, crowds began to disperse, and we walked toward the mall that leads to Buckingham Palace.  Happily we reached the appropriate spot in time to see the guards leaving the palace, marching back up the mall in their rain capes.  We enjoyed the "clomp-clomp" of their boots on the cobblestone street as they strode past.  Not long after, the mounted guards, referred to as the Queens Life Guards, clip-clopped down the mall toward the palace.  It is a beautifully majestic sight to see.  We scurried over to get a few shots of the palace, then ducked into Green Park for some tree cover and hot coffee.  We dragged our soggy selves back to the flat, where Tim2 was enjoying a quiet, dry morning.

soggy Teddy

People caught up on sleep, played Chinese Checkers (don't leave home without it!), and gave some face time to their electronic devices.  Although it was still raining, we decided to venture out to Camden Town in search of some more music.  The Forge is a vibrant, eclectic, nonprofit concert venue, restaurant and bar - an intimate, two-story building on a little side road off Camden High Street.  It was another tube plus bus adventure getting there, but hey, we were getting good at it.

The Forge Cantina has a Latin-American focus, with arepas and Cubanos deliciosos!  As is the case with most bars here, one must go to the bar to order rather than having a waiter come to take your order.  Wunderkind Tim2 was ready for a challenge, and so memorized and placed orders for all five of us.  He definitely inherited his grandfather's amazing memory.  The only table we could see when we first walked in was back in a corner, with the stage blocked from view.  After our food was ordered, Ted scouted out a better table upstairs and we hauled our stuff up there to eat.

It was quite a long wait for the music to start, but we did get in before they started collecting cover charges.  After  eating, we headed back down stairs and found a couple of tiny tables on either side of the music area.  Tim and I sat on one side, the guys on the other.  The place quickly filled up, and we were soon sharing our tables with strangers.  It was finally time for the music to start; first up was the Bangladesh All-Stars - a traditional, world music group with instruments like a dohl (a double-sided barrel drum), bamboo flute, khomok and lute, and some vocals with an eastern mystic edge.  Next came the Soothsayers, a London-based afrobeat and reggae band that got the place jumping.  The two groups then joined together for a truly unique fusion of sound.  Quite a memorable evening.

Back out in the rain, we reversed our bus and tube trip to head back to Maida Vale.  Hi-jinx ensued.

*(Some of you may have noticed that I changed the title of my London posts.  I felt this was necessary after I noticed an uptick in traffic on my sight, and realized it might be because the other title was attracting the wrong kind of traffic!)