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| Prince William and Kate Middleton?? |
So the big
Royal Wedding is tomorrow!!! I'm really not that much into royalty, but this can be considered history -- a future King getting married. I thought about heading into London for the big day on Friday but decided I didn't want to get crushed in the crowds and then not be able to see anything as I'm of rather short stature. People are talking about getting there at 4 am to get a good spot along the procession route. Again, not appealing to me. And even crazier, people are already camped out along the route, tents and all, to secure their spot to catch a fleeting glimpse of the action.
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| 4 Sight-seeing Americans in front of Buckingham Palace |
Some friends and I found a good compromise to be able to soak up the excitement today but stay home to watch the actual happenings on TV tomorrow. We took a train in to London and did a walking tour that hit the highlights and interesting tidbits related to the royal couple. The tour normally costs 15 pounds but we got it on special the day before for 7 pounds. Even better.
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| Fellow tour mates |
On the tour were not just the usual tourists, but also members of the media from other countries, such as Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. A newspaper reporter from New Zealand interviewed me and my friend as she could tell we were American. We didn't have much to tell her except that we live here and wanted to come see the action today but not tomorrow. The Japanese had a video crew with them, I'm sure they need some uplifting news in that country. Two Australians claimed they were named Kate and William and were getting married the next day. In case anyone doubted them they donned their masks and posed for numerous photos.
We saw the jewelers, Garrard's, that made the ring, originally for Princess Diana. We saw a Jigsaw shop, where Catherine used to work as a buyer of accessories. We saw the suppliers of champagne to the royal family as well as suppliers of their shoes and hats. The first time a pair of shoes is made for someone in the royal family, it takes a year! They still have the form for the shoes made for Queen Victoria. (I hope I'm getting all these facts right!)
We stopped in front of the Mahiki night club where Prince William supposedly drowned his sorrows during the 3 months he and Kate were split up. He ran up a bar tab of over 10,000 pounds, hopefully not all on himself. He knows the owner of the night club so maybe he got a break on the bill.
Near Mahiki is the Ritz hotel where Prince Charles and Camilla publicly came out that they were dating.
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| The Ritz |
We made our way over to St. James Palace which was built in 1536 and was a residence of kings and queens of England for over 300 years. Two guards in the big fluffy black hats (excuse my not very precise name for them) were doing a changing of the guard and the crowds were snapping photos and taking video like crazy.
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| St. James Palace |
Then we stopped by Clarence House, the London residence of Charles and Camilla, and William and Harry. Our tour guide asked one of the many media photographers milling about what was going on and he said that Kate was in Clarence House having lunch so they were waiting for her to come out. Who knows if that was even true? We didn't stick around to find out.
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| The Mall leading to Buckingham Palace |
Next thing you know we are walking down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. Large Union Jack flags are displayed along the street. The crowds got thicker and then we were excited to actually see tents of the camped-out would-be spectators.
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| People camped out in tents |
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| Chillin' out, waiting for the big day |
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Westminster Abbey
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The grand finale of the tour was Westminster Abbey, where the wedding ceremony will take place. This area was where the most spectators were. Not only were there many people in their staked out seats, there were many gawkers of them as well. A one-way path was set up for pedestrians to gawk/walk by and try to snap photos but you had to be quick because the Bobby police officers would admonish you to "keep moving please".
So there it is: "The Day Before The Big Day".
We saw the jewelers, Garrard's, that made the ring, originally for Princess Diana. We saw a Jigsaw shop, where Catherine used to work as a buyer of accessories. We saw the suppliers of champagne to the royal family as well as suppliers of their shoes and hats. The first time a pair of shoes is made for someone in the royal family, it takes a year! They still have the form for the shoes made for Queen Victoria. (I hope I'm getting all these facts right!)
