Another walking tour.

Today I went on another walking tour of London - parks, royal palaces, squares, and other monuments you will soon recognize. The weather in the morning was absolutely gorgeous, but of course turned into misty and cool later on.

London is the 2nd greenest city, with Stockholm, Sweden in first place. These two photos are from Greens Park, one of London's 8 major parks. It is the only major park to not have any monuments or flower beds in order to respect the 10,000 lepers that are buried beneath it.
There are 5 royal palaces: Kensington Palace, Windsor Palace, Clarence House, St. James Palace, and pictured below, Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace is considered by Queen Elizabeth to be "The Office" where she spends her time during the week working. You can tell if she is there or not simply by which flag is being flown. The Royal Flag if she is there, British flag if not.Queen Victoria was the first royalty to ever reside in BP. Her statue can be found on the front of the Victoria Memorial in the Queen's Gardens. (The monument right out front with the gold thing on top.)
Changing of the Guards - Royal Band.

There used to be a Brothel located where BP now stands today. I'm sure the Queen is not too enthused to spout that random fact.
Victoria Memorial located in the Queen's Gardens, in front of BP.

Another royal palace, Clarence House. It is referred to as the "Waiting House" because the next in line to the throne resides here. Currently it is Prince Charles.
Yet another royal palace, St. James Palace. You can see the Royal Band returning from the Changing of the Guards.
This might look familiar to you from movie scenes. This is Picadilly Circus. There's a little mystery behind the name Picadilly. You see, this area was near an array of Gentleman's Houses, where young men would get together, consume large amounts of alcohol, and do mysterious things behind closed doors. Back in the day, the word dilly meant prostitution. Pick-a-dilly. Get it?
A statue of George Washington in front of the National Portrait Gallery near Trafalgar's Square. GW requested before his death to never be commemorated on English soil. To honor his wishes, soil was shipped from Virginia to be placed underneath his statue.
Trafalgar Square. If you look hard down the street you can see a very familiar landmark.
Tada! This is what I just referenced in the previous picture, the Westminster Clock Tower, although mistakenly known as Big Ben. Big Ben is actually the name of the giant bell that is located in the tower. In the background you can see the London Eye, which I'll be adventuring in a couple weeks. One of England's most important buildings, Westminster Abbey. I didn't get a chance to go inside, but I will in a couple weeks to give you more pictures/information!

Almost all of these places I will be exploring on my own more in-depth. So you will be seeing a repeat of places, but not photos or fun facts.