The Black Dog

If you're a "Swiftie," a Taylor Swift fan, you are definitely familiar with The Black Dog.  In Taylor Swift's album "The Tortured Poet's Department," the song "The Black Dog" is said to be about her break-up with Joe Alwyn.  Apparently he frequented The Black Dog, which is a real-life bar in London, England, and forgot to turn off his location on his phone.  Taylor's official music lyric video is here:  The Black Dog 

The Black Dog has embraced the Swifties emerging on this now-famous bar in London and offer menu items named after Swift lore.  We arrived at the Black Dog on a cold November night.  My daughter is, perhaps, the most dedicated Swiftie ever born.  She attended the Eras Tour in Germany dressed as a mirror ball.  We tracked down the location of The Black Dog and took photos outside, although didn't have time to go inside and eat.  If we ever make it to London again, we won't miss ordering some Swift-like food.

The Black Dog is located at 112 Vauxhall Walk, London SEII 5ER, United Kingdom.  

It is open every day beginning at noon, and closing at 11 p.m. except on Sunday, when it closes at 10 p.m.  Their official website is here:  The Black Dog

Heading around the corner to the entrance of The Black Dog

Swift lyrics written on a chalkboard outside the front door

The Man in the Clock

Two of the reasons that I was especially excited for my trip to England and Europe in November & December of 2024 was to see the two Maarten Baas Real Time Clocks, one in the Amsterdam Schiphol airport and the other across from Paddington Station in London.  I was able to see the Schiphol clock again in March of 2025 when my daughter and I flew into Amsterdam for a layover during our flight to Italy.  You can watch a video of my visits to the clocks here:  The Man in the Clock

Airport Schiphol Clock

The Real Time Clock in Amsterdam is located in Lounge 2 of the International terminal, close to the D gates.  You can only see it when you are flying out of Amsterdam internationally.  Since we had a layover in Amsterdam in March 2025, we were able to see the clock then, and we also were able to see the clock when we flew out of Amsterdam in December of 2024.  The Clock was placed in Schiphol in 2016.

The Clock is about 9 feet tall and is suspended from the ceiling where it can be viewed from many different perspectives.  It appears that a man is trapped inside the clock, painting the time, erasing the time, and repainting it as each minute passes.  In reality, it is not a man trapped inside the clock -- it is a 12 hour video played on a loop.  You can read about it on Maarten Baas' official website here:  Schiphol Clock

When we visited in November 2024, the airport was decorated for Christmas.  It was fun to see the clock surrounded by Christmas lights and hanging presents.  In March of 2025 the area was blocked off due to construction, but we could still see the clock hanging above the dividers.

Paddington Station Clock

The Real Time Clock in London is located across the street from Paddington Station, at 50 Eastborne Terrace.  This clock is hung 25 feet off the ground and is about 8 feet in diameter.  This clock appears to have a man in a vintage three-piece suit trapped in it, also painting, erasing, and repainting the time with each passing minute.  Again, this was a 12 hour video that is played on a loop to create 24 hours of play-time from 2 twelve-hour video clip.

This clock was installed in 2021.  When we visited the clock, other people were also admiring the clock, some taking videos or photos like we were.

Incidentally, there is supposed to be a 3rd Real Time Clock, in Venice, but when I visited Venice I wasn't able to locate the clock.  I've been doing research to try to find it, but all I've been able to discover so far is that it was on display at the museum at Ca d'Oro in Venice in 2019.  Its current whereabouts seem to be a mystery now.

Schiphol Clock

November 2024

March 2025

The Schiphol clock is located where the large "L" is on the map, near the D gates

Paddington Clock

November 2024

My daughter under the clock as a red double-decker London bus goes by

Location of the Real Time clock across from Paddington Railway Station

Buckingham Palace

One of the most famous buildings in the entire world is Buckingham Palace.  We visited and toured Buckingham Palace in November of 2024.  I have toured the White House in Washington DC a couple times, and I must say that the splendor of Buckingham Palace definitely trumps the White House - no pun intended!  It is more fancy than the Palace of Versailles, or any other palace that I have ever toured.  We were very lucky to tour at a time when there was very little traffic, and we were the last tour of the night, so we weren't rushed through the tour, and the ropes were down so that we could get close and personal to the artwork and furniture.  We were just told not to sit in the thrones!  :)

We weren't allowed to take any photos inside Buckingham Palace, which was disappointing not to be able to show the world what a beautiful place it is, but I took lots of photos outside, and you can see photos of the interior on their official website here:  Buckingham Palace 

In order to get tickets for our tour, which I very highly recommend, I joined their email list about a year in advance of our trip.  That way I would receive an email as soon as tickets for the winter season went on sale.  Once I received the email that tickets were for sale, I purchased them immediately.  There is not parking at Buckingham Palace, so be careful that you allow enough time to find parking and walk to the entrance.  The tour entrance is at The King's Gallery.  We reserved parking at Q-Park, Victoria, which is a 15 minute walk to the palace.  Their official website is here:  Q-Park  Reserve and pay for your parking ahead of time so that the lot doesn't fill up.  I'd recommend paying for more parking than you think you will need.  You are supposed to arrive at your tour a half hour early, so reserve parking at least an hour before your tour time.

Route from Q-Park Victoria to The King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace

During the summer, standard admission to the Palace is 35 pounds.  A guided tour is 100 pounds.  I very, very highly recommend the guided tour.  I learned so much from the tour guide that I would have totally missed if I'd just wandered around through a few of the rooms.  Our tour guide showed us a secret entrance in one of the rooms that is used by the royal family to move throughout the house.  She said that on occasion, King Charles and Queen Camilla will come and greet unsuspecting tour visitors by sneaking through that door.  We weren't lucky enough to have any surprise visitors during our tour.

Buckingham Palace is located at London SW1A 1AA, United Kingdom.  Without tickets you can go take photos outside the famous gates of Buckingham Palace.  Since tickets to go inside are so expensive, the outside is how most people view Buckingham Palace.  

Buckingham House was built in 1703 as a townhouse for the Duke of Buckingham.  In 1761 King George III acquired it for Queen Charlotte, but it didn't become the official home of the monarchy until 1837.  It had undergone major renovations between that time.  English monarchs who ruled from Buckingham Palace included Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth II.  Currently Buckingham Palace is under renovations and will be until 2027, so King Charles III lives in the nearby Clarence House instead of Buckingham Palace currently.  

One of the days we were in London, we walked from Big Ben & Westminster to Buckingham Palace along Bird Cage Walk.  We passed through the Australia Gate, which is where Bird Cage Walk crosses Buckingham Palace Road.  On the way back, we walked through St. James Park and then back in the direction of Big Ben to where we'd parked our car across the river. It is not the most direct route to walk through St. James Park, but it is beautiful and you don't want to miss the pink pelicans there!  We walked along the Princess Diana of Wales Memorial Walkway on The Mall when we left Buckingham Palace.  There were a lot of other people walking, sight-seeing, and relaxing.  There was even a little place to buy snacks in the park.  

The walk takes about 30 minutes and is very picturesque

Birdcage Walk towards Buckingham Palace

pink pelicans at St James Park

Street markers

approaching the gates to Buckingham Palace grounds

The Australia Gate is one of the Dominion Gates surrounding the Queen Victoria memorial and was a gift from the people of Australia

ornate lantern on the Australia gate

The Queen Victoria Memorial unveiled in 1911 in honor of Queen Victoria after her death 

The Queen Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace

Heading toward Buckingham Palace

The Buckingham Palace gates

I attempted to take photos of the interior through the bars of the fence

You can watch the changing of the guard on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 11 a.m.

When we went back for our tour, it was dark outside, so we didn't get any photos then.  I wish that I could have taken photos of the amazing tour, but the only photos I took inside the palace were these:

Buckingham Palace has very fancy public restrooms.  While we waited for our tour to begin, we sat together in a room until the tour time was to begin.  We went and used the bathroom before the tour started.  I was very impressed with how nice, and how clean, the public restrooms were.

The Palace was decorated for Christmas, which made the tour even more special.  This Christmas Tree was right outside the gift shop, by where we checked in for our tour.

Buckingham Gate is a street at the junction between Buckingham Palace Road and Birdcage Walk near Buckingham Palace