Just visiting the queen

Don't get used to this daily London blog thing. I'll be running out of steam any minute now.

Today the kids and I walked from our apartment to Buckingham Palace, via some pretty cool scenery. First we went south on Baker Street until we hit Oxford Street, a famous shopping district. It reminded me some of Michigan Avenue in Chicago, except for the double-decker buses and Union Jacks, of course.



We stopped for lunch at an American-style diner called Ed's (remember that we've spent the last year in India and forgive us for this). The food was yummy and the jukebox tunes were fun, too.

Samuel was in a much better mood today after a decent night's sleep. Jet lag, begone! Please!

There's a huge Disney store on Oxford Street, and the kids dragged me inside, where we met Mickey and the gang all dressed up for London.

Evie was pretty excited about the life-size princesses.

Here we are back on Oxford Street with more than Mom meant to buy (of course). Johnny picked an Iron Man action figure and a Phineas and Ferb book. Evie came out with Tangled figurines, and Samuel scored a Jake and the Neverland Pirates toy and a cute T-shirt. Mom got nuthin, but that's how things go.

We followed Oxford Street and then Regent Street toward Picadilly Circus. We passed Hamleys toy store, but I told Johnny I refused to do the Disney Store and Hamleys in the same day. We'll have to go inside another day. Believe me, he's going to hold me to that.

In an attempt to find a bathroom (successful!), we passed by the Royal Academy of Arts and ended up in Savile Row and its environs for a while. I was going nuts. Alexander McQueen! Prada! Shop after shop of gorgeous clothing! Johnny just did not understand this. "Big deal! Who cares about a bunch of shoes?" (This was at Prada.)

At least Evie knows high fashion when she sees it. Here she is admiring a pink concoction at Swarovski back on Regent Street.

This is Regent Street as it curves toward Picadilly Circus.

Picadilly Circus was cool, but much smaller than I was imagining it would be. I can see why it's often compared with Times Square, though.

After Picadilly Circus, we followed Picadilly Street toward Buckingham Palace. Many of the shops we passed had windows decked out in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee.

Right after the Ritz Hotel, you can turn off Picadilly and onto a walking path called the Queen's Walk. There's apparently a more famous Queen's Walk on the other side of the Thames, but this one is across Green Park and is lined with the enormous mansions built by wealthy Londoners after the royals moved in to Buckingham Palace.

The Queen's Walk ends on the Mall right in front of Buckingham Palace. Johnny floored me by saying "Hey! This is that place where they were waving at the crowd in the royal wedding!" He's absolutely right, of course.

We didn't see the changing of the guard this time, but that's on our agenda for sure.

I wanted to head down the Mall after this to see Trafalgar Square, but as you might be able to tell from this photo, the kids were ready to go home. We hopped on the tube at the Green Park station and made it home just before John got back from work.

London Zoo tomorrow! Then I might have to take a day off to recover.