We are such shameless American tourists.

Here we are, trying to breathlessly squeeze all the predictable London attractions into a very short stay in a vast city of 9.5 million people. It’s crazy, I know. We’re averaging about nine miles a day on foot.

My Fitbit is impressed.

Thank goodness we have a child with us, so we remember to occasionally pause and, well, admire the pigeons. And the squirrels. And every dog that passes by.

The one thing our little friend really wanted to do in England was see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. I’ve seen it before and for all the pomp and pageantry, what I remembered was the mob scene.

Being three certified members of the Lollipop Guild, I knew our chances of seeing any of the action - unless we lined up outside the palace at dawn - were near zero.

But when you come this far, you go for it.

The throngs were already in place when we arrived 45 minutes before the Changing of the Guards was scheduled to begin. We managed to push my granddaughter up to a prime spot - hey, she’s too short to block anyone’s view - while we stood on tiptoe a couple of yards behind and marveled at how tall everyone else was.

Here’s my view of Changing of the Guard:

We did see the Royal Standard flying atop the palace, a sign that the sovereign was in residence. Alas, Camilla had drawn all the curtains and we couldn’t see a thing.

Once the crowd began to disburse we were able to see some of the parade. Empty carriages.

Then, as we waited to cross the street, a black Rolls Royce with a motorcycle escort suddenly came around the corner. It turned directly in front of us, heading for the palace and there was the king. He was waving and smiling. I can report that Chuck looked healthy.

We wandered Hyde Park, which, despite the bare trees is very green and a gorgeous oasis in the middle of the city. In fact, London has an abundance of small parks and the Brits really seem to enjoy them the minute the sun peeks out as it did for several hours this morning.

From there we went to Harrod’s department store where we found we couldn’t afford a thing. Next we hit Hamley’s Toy Store, billed as the world’s largest toy store, where smiling shop workers dazzle the kids with the most amazing new toys. We did do a little shopping there, of course.

We wrapped up our time in London on the London Eye, the giant Ferris wheel along the Thames that soars 442 feet in the sky with glass enclosed capsules that each hold about 20 passengers. It’s the fourth largest Ferris wheel in the world, but awfully pricey at what we worked out to about $50 per person. The cost was a surprise, because it included Britain’s staggering 20% VAT.

That value added tax gives you an unpleasant shock with every purchase or transaction. Ugh.

The ride did provide some breathtaking views.

Wednesday was an early night. We’re flying back to Iceland Thursday morning for three days in Reykjavik.

I plan to beg the Icelandic immigration official to stamp our passports when we arrive. They weren’t stamped when we entered England, which we didn’t realize until we were through passport control. This was a huge disappointment for us since we’re infrequent travelers with almost pristine passports.

If your passport doesn’t bear the stamp were you really there?

Until tomorrow…