Guard mounting

and St. Louis Americans participating in the March to the Arch, a 21-mile memorial walk to the national monument.

Across the pond, a special Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, the band playing the American national anthem and honoring the 67 British nationals among those killed.

And it was this very day Right here, the World Trade Center site that created an unbreakable bond between two strangers.

Fifteen years ago, as a local reporter here in New York City, I reported on a story that has never left me.

Two days after the September 11th attacks, Americans gathered outside Buckingham Palace and heard their own national anthem.

Queen Elizabeth had personally requested that the band of the Coldstream Guards play the Star-Spangled Banner during the Changing of the Guard on September 13th, 2001.

It was an extraordinary change to one of Britain's most familiar ceremonies.

A foreign national anthem would ordinarily be played in connection with a visiting leader.

People want to talk about their experience with her and what she meant to them, right? And it shows what we've talked about so far, what she was to us as a generation was far beyond her country music appeal or whatever she did in TV and movies, you know?

Matter of fact, I just saw a video before we started recording this at the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.

Yes.

They have a band that plays with them.

was delicious.

They were Heinz, okay? They were delicious.

and we knew we had a full day because we were gonna go see changing of the guards at st james place which i want to say shout out to the person who gave you that tip because that was a great spot because we got there a little before 10 and we got prime viewing dead center like on the sidewalk you couldn't ask for a better view versus the probably thousands of people down the road at buckingham that was like a log jam

I do apologize.

I wish I had taken names down of the guests that told me these things because a few different people told me different things, and I literally could not think of who told me which.

So yeah, Andy is seemingly getting these matches in place and Big RevPro Guys going up against, um, each other there.

Finally, I'm gonna talk about, it was a collective, the final three matches, 'cause it really was a changing of the guard moment in a lot of ways.

Because you've got the men's title changed hands, the women's title changed hands, and I'm gonna dub it the no one beat Zack Sabre Jr.

For six years title because that, that was the one, I don't know why, I kind of felt I was going, Jay Joshua's gonna win this.

We were singing with a dolly there last week in the office.

But tributes came across from, again, multi-generational stuff here because not only did Paul McCartney write out a tribute to her, but also Mick Jagger, Shania Twain, Casey Musgraves, Harry Styles, so many people of course Miley Cyrus is her is Dolly Parton is her godmother I think or it's her auntie one of the other I don't know if it's if it's if they're actually related or not but even like the response goes beyond music because even at Buckingham Palace's Changing of the Guard they played 9 to 5 yeah so cool to see but obviously Dolly's legacy herself goes beyond music too because she raised like so much money for for the Imagination Library she she gave hundreds of millions of books through this through this whole, what do you call it? Initiative.

Initiative, yeah.

And one of the first places that it was set up in Europe was, of course, Tallaght.

It's a living seat of the monarchy.

Check ahead of your trip whether the changing of the guard is taking place on the day you visit.

The guards march through the town and into the castle with a military band on select mornings.

Arrive early and stake out a spot near the castle gates or inside the lower ward for the best views.

But I'm not sure if I'd plan a shopping spree there because apparently the prices are on the high side, and that's before you account for the really crappy exchange rate we have right now.

Now, since I'm the one recording this podcast and creating all the content, I'm gonna let myself have two picks, the Tower of London and the Changing of the Guard.

Both are totally classic London experiences.

I'll start with the Tower of London.

Then hop on the next tour right after you're done.

The Yeoman Warders who run the tours are really funny, and they knew exactly how to hold a group's attention, even for little kids.

As for the Changing of the Guard, I was really on the fence about it because I've heard it's just too touristy and we shouldn't do it, but we did an awesome guided tour that I'm gonna link to down in the show notes.

It's so much better than just showing up and standing with the crowd.