I told Karin we’d probably get beans and eggs for breakfast. She didn’t believe me, but I was right. Mmmm… I was right.

I suppose Jess and Martin are somewhere nearby now too.

We took the (rush hour) tube to Victoria Station and (having chosen Official Walking Tour #1 from our new guide pack) meandered up to Buckingham Palace — stopping on the way to pick up a power adapter to replace the stupid one we brought that (AGAIN) did not work.

They were doing some construction at the memorial, so we just circled nearby, watched a very official looking horse-drawn carriage trot someone through the gates where they were quickly whisked off inside, and were disappointed that the changing of the guard is only every OTHER day. Not today. Karin’s quote about Buckingham Palace: ‘Well, it’s smaller than I thought it would be.’ Take that QEII.

A few photos later we took a long (often-stopping stroll) through St. James Park, up around some of the Royal Apartments, and then onto Picadilly Circus. Karin’s quote about Picadilly Circus: ‘Well, it’s smaller than I thought it would be.’

Starting to get a little weary, we hopped on the tube again and found ourselves at Knightbridge, the famous Harrods emerging at the top of the staircase as we ascended from the underground. Karin’s eyes lit up when we hit the food market inside, and we bought some sandwiches, a salad, and drinks and scoped out a bench in nearby Hyde Park to eat. It was a little windy, a cool breeze coming over the water, but we did see a skinny little ‘white-socked and black’ whippet running around with its owner.

Karin wanted to go back over to Harrods, so we trekked back and spent a good hour and a half rummaging through the various departments, even getting a salespitch on a nice stroller in the baby department. (A green Bugaboo for only £490 — too bad?) We wound up only buying a small tin of cookies and some hard candies, before bailing and hopping the tube back to the hotel for a bit of siesta.

Official photo count (in less than 24 hours) is 122. Had the sun been out this morning it might have been higher. For those waiting for pictures I’ve already decided that there is going to be at least one gallery devoted to ‘Weird British Signage’ — because why explain a simple concept with a small pictograph when you can apologetically justify a trivial rule or inconvenience in forty words or less. But you’ll still need to wait until we’re home.