(I considered and rejected many other cheesy titles for this post, including but not limited to:
Jolly Olde London Town or Merry Olde England or some such
something about Across the Pond
God Save The Queen
Keep Calm and Mr C
We Will Never Be Royals
Of Princes and Playdates
the list goes on...it seems there's no way to tip one's top hat subtly...)
Aunt Momo is spending her summer having a grand adventure on the high seas. She's touring Europe and Scandinavia with Semester at Sea, of which I am tremendously jealous (like, you don't even know how cool that is when you're in college, right? You think you can just do stuff like that forever...). Her port of call is Southampton, England, so my mom selflessly volunteered to take her over and do a quick jaunt through London first. Then she asked us if we would like to come along, so we did. It maybe wasn't the best idea we ever had, but it certainly wasn't the worst. We just figured it was a fun opportunity and not something we'd get the chance to do again for a while--as in, not until and any and all future children are MUCH more grown because that flight was a big no thank you--so we went. Jules, Miller, BA, Mr. C, and me, which was actually a great crew--we missed all our other family members from near and far but it was ideal to have just enough people for extra hands but not so many that we were an unwieldy number.
The 95-degree heat was a rude awakening upon our return to Atlanta. It wasn't full-blown hot hot summer when we left, but it sure was when we returned. I wouldn't want London's weather year round, but a little cool and grey was nice for a bit.
And we're off! Cheerio!
(Miller and I inadvertently wore the same sweater jacket on the plane...we're cool)
Things that go.
This is a picture of nothing (well, that's Buckingham Palace through the trees) taken in Green Park to commemorate our brush with royalty. BA, C, and I were strolling along a path when two black Range Rovers turned toward us. It was most certainly a walking path, not a driving path, so we took notice. As they drove past, we saw the Duchess Kate in the passenger seat of the first one. She was wearing a blue dress and looked put-together but not formal. She was chatting and smiling with the driver--unclear whether Prince George or anyone else was in the back. She gave us a little nod as they went by. I think she approved of my stroller (aka pushchair/pram...they had a lot of words for strollers over there). I presume she was arriving at some hidden entrance to Buckingham or St. James's in preparation for Trooping the Colour the next day.
Last time I was in London, I had a similar surprise personal driveby sighting of the queen, so stick with me if you want to see some royals. For like 8 seconds.
Still waiting on our playdate invite from Prince George.
Pictures of horses for Mr. C while we awaited the parade on Saturday morning
Trooping the Colo(u)r is the annual "official" celebration of the queen's birthday. There had been events leading up to it all month, and it culminates in a big parade and celebration. We happened to be there while it was going on, and were staying right where all the action was, so we figured we'd check it out. It's basically tailor-made for Mr. C right now--horses, marching, music, flags, and airplanes. Done.
BA unamused by stroller duty
Don't worry, we found some pea gravel to occupy us while we waited for the parade.
Japanese tourists liked this and took lots of photos of us.
The police lead the way...
(opted out of posting several boring videos here, but if you want to see horses, Kate, her fascinator [from afar], or other pomp and/or circumstance, just holler)
THE QUEEN!
I've seen some good flyovers in my day, but this one was tops. They started with an array of helicopters, and then had waves of airplanes through British history--WWII bombers up through these fighter jets with the colored smoke.
We watched this from the terrace off our hotel room, and then every time C went out there for the rest of the trip he looked at the sky and waited for the airplanes. Sorry to disappoint, little buddy. Parades may be a daily occurrence in London town, but the flyby was just a one-off.
Long live the queen!
Another day brought a trip through the park to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and Parliament.
Given that plenty of Japanese tourists had taken no-reason pictures of us, I did not feel the slightest bit guilty shamelessly taking a picture of these people for the purpose of documenting their weird extending arm camera holder that HELPS YOU TAKE SELFIES.
Yes.
Just sit with that one a minute, please.
There are many things one could say about this, but I thought the best irony was that Japanese tourists are always in such enormous groups that there should be plenty of people around to, you know, take the picture for you so you don't need a selfie. And you certainly shouldn't need a selfie helper.
Mostly I think he liked the buses (BUH!)
Hey Trev!
Mr. C was so Euro...he liked to sleep from 8pm-11pm and then wake up to watch some footy.
(FOOBAH!)
On our last full day, C and I hit the park while BA had a meeting (yes, he does coffee meetings, even in England) and Jules took Miller to port. We were exploring the playground, which was pretty ok but not as great as the one in Hyde Park, when we heard some music up the hill. A brass band rendition of the theme song from "Rocky," to be more precise. Obviously we had to wander up to check this out. And then, after another song, what do you know...we were accidentally smack in the middle of the Changing of the Guard. You can't avoid a parade in this town.
Can you believe they do this every. single. day??
Oh, just havin' a pint
(not as child abuse-y as it looks. Promise!)
CHEERS!
xo
