We have had a wonderful time in London. We went up on Monday morning to our Hotel in Hyde Park, it is a very nice hotel with a bath and shower, heated towel rail and even tissues in the bathroom. (because all other hotels expect you to wipe your nose on your sleeve??? - Grant) We left there and went into London to find our bearings - I am an absolute pro on jumping onto the underground trains, then to change and get the Jubilee line, or the Circle Line or the Piccadilly Line etc. We went to Picadilly by bus then walked through St James Park to Westminster and Downing Street, then onto Trafalgar Square and I went into the National Gallery just for a few minutes. We then walked to Harrods and had a look at what they had. Unfortunately they were having a Sale so it did not look as posh as usual with the sale tables all over the place!!! Every department has a different light fittings from huge chandeliers to smaller lit up fruit baskets etc. We went back to the hotel about 8pm exhausted and fell into bed!!!
On Tuesday we went for a walk to Hyde Park, Jean said she could handle traveling one station, so we walked around Hyde Park for about an hour. Then looked for a toilet - a sign said 250 yds - it was more like 250 miles. By now we had walked across the Park and had to get back. We saw an underground station and made for that, but that was about another 250 miles of passages - we could have walked back to our hotel by this time. Time was passing and we had to get back to our Hotel to dress for the Palace!!! We got back just before 12.45pm and then needed to leave again at about 1.15pm. We got all dolled up and even if I say so myself, looked quite nice!!! We got a taxi to the Palace and the driver took us as close as he possibly could, which was right outside the gate.
There were thousands of people there, fortunately we were early and got quite near the front of the one queue. I was dressed a lot nicer than most people, some over the top, others a bit dowdy - we were perfect!!!! The gates were supposed to open at 3pm but they opened them at 2.15pm as there were about 8000 people, more than usual I believe!!! We went in and got a seat at a table and they gave us lemon and barley water which was delicious as it was very hot and sunny. After a while some ladies came around and suggested we help ourselves to tea. There was tea, iced coffee or apple juice. We started off with apple juice and then had tea. The eats were out of this world, tiny salmon pastries, fruit cake, tiny sandwich fingers - I had a couple of egg and ham - tiny chocolate cakes about an inch square with a tiny gold crown on the top - I had a couple of those. There were also little round caramel cakes, choux pastries with fillings, Victorian sponge cake, and quite a few others that I did not have. The tea was served from silver urns, quite posh. The tents had chiffon material draped from the centre of the ceiling and down the sides. There were huge flower displays in large vases, everything first class! Then it was almost time for the Queen to arrive. The Queen, Prince Philip, Charles and Camilla as well as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent all attended. We formed a sort of U shape and Jean and I were in front of the bottom part of the U. They played the Anthem as they stood on the steps and then they all walked down towards us. The Queen then went off in one direction, the Duke in another and Charles and Camilla in another area. We then rushed and got to the front of the side the Queen was walking - I could have touched her she was so close! After she passed we went to where the Duke was chatting and got to the front of that crowd, he was chatting and laughing all the time. I had my little SA flag and one of the ushers (they were older men in top hat and tails with a brolly), said not to let the Duke see that flag otherwise he will chase me with a cricket bat (we had beaten England in a test the day before). Then the Royal group went to their tent for tea with some bishops in long red robes!!! We walked around the gardens for a while and then I took some photos!!!!!£$%%$£@ I wish I had taken more but was a bit nervous!!! The Royal family left at 6pm with the playing of the Anthem again. We walked around a bit more then headed for the gates. We had to pass through the entrance of the Palace which is wonderful. Imagine the Queen on the balcony, well, I walked through the arch right under the balcony - nothing but the best for me!!!!!!! We went into the Grand Entrance and saw the paintings and carpets and chairs etc. then out of the doors of the Bow Room which in itself is very opulent!!! Eats your hearts out!!!£$%~@
Today(Wednesday) we went on the London Eye and around the Tower of London which was in itself a real pleasure. On the way back to the hotel where we had left our luggage, we walked through Hyde Park again to find the Princess Di memorial pond. I was very disappointed in this as it is just a circle of water in the ground. We asked many people as we had looked for this yesterday, but no one seemed to know where it was. Hyde Park is HUGE, so you can imagine trying to find something that is rather flat. Then I saw a little old man with a golf cart and asked him if he would take us to the pond, which he did and then again I asked him to take us the the Lancaster Gate as our Hotel was not far from there. Cheeky!!! He was very willing and pointed out some landmarks to us. We went back to the hotel, had tea and then trekked to the station to head for home. We got the train at Lancaster Gate, changed at Bond Street to the Jubilee Line and headed for Waterloo Station where we headed for Basingstoke and arrived home just after 7 pm.
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That's all I have for you this week. I will strive to lead a more exciting life so that I have some of my own material for next week;s blog :-)
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