Day 3: London

After a restful night, we start the day with sunshine. We have breakfast leisurely and then make our way to the city center. Thanks to the technical support of an app, we have no trouble finding our way. We inquire at the counter about the cheapest option for the next few days and then use our credit card for payment and authorization each time. This way, we pay 11 pounds per day instead of the paper ticket option with 15 pounds. The journey to Green Park takes almost an hour. Then we head towards Buckingham Palace along with many other tourists. The changing of the Guard attracts us. We secure a spot by the barricades and now it's time to wait. It's just after 10 am and the spectacle doesn't start until 11 am. Then a troop arrives and disappears into the courtyard. Unfortunately, our spot turns out to be unfavorable, we only see parts of it. There are many people around and everyone wants to take pictures and videos. The brass band marches across the square and continues to play in the courtyard. A medley of Abba songs is particularly popular. In the meantime, a motorcade with American President Joe Biden passes by. He is on a 2-day state visit and now we know why our tickets for Windsor Castle were canceled for today. The King is receiving Joe Biden there. After the end of the changing of the Guard, we cross the adjacent St. James's Park where we see pelicans and a green space with ponds, flowers, and trees. We stop at Downing Street No. 10. There are many journalists waiting for Joe Biden and Prime Minister Sunak. We continue on, too tired to wait again. The streets are crowded and there are many people around. We only briefly cross Trafalgar Square and head straight to Chinatown. There we enjoy a lunch. Afterwards, we stroll through Soho and end up in Covent Garden. The neighborhood is lively with many pubs, restaurants, and shops. We want to visit the fire station in Soho. It is very busy there, so we are recommended to visit the station near Paddington Station. Various artists and acrobats perform every half hour in Covent Garden square. We linger there and watch the performances. The children are thrilled. We take a short break and then take the metro to Paddington Station. The station is dedicated to Paddington Bear. He can be seen multiple times in different versions. There is also a game where you can search for all the bears in the area. Finding 2 bears is enough for us. We walk along a small river surrounded by high-rise buildings, which makes a nice impression. Then we reach Paddington Fire Station and receive a small tour. Unfortunately, there are no T-shirts available, but we have a nice chat.
Now we start the journey back to the campsite. It's rush hour, which means standing in the metro. We reach the camper exhausted around 6 pm. We're still full from lunch, so we don't need to cook. We just have to do one load of laundry, then we can relax.