Day 11: Long Live the Queen!

We hopped on a bus again...the one right outside of our hotel (it was still a thrill to walk only a few steps to it) to ride about 20 minutes to the airport, and then caught an hour-long flight to London. Once we landed in London though, it was a journey to get to the hotel- we had quite a walk to the tube (20 min), then another 50 min ride on the Jubilee line to Piccadilly in a crowded car filled with tourists and suitcases...then a transfer to Hoburn...then got off at Marble Arch. 

From there, it was only a 5-7 min walk to our hotel, which was located right near Hyde/Kensington Park. And my oh my, what a beautiful property it was. Think a white-gloved doorman with a tall top hat stationed at the entrance. Access to the Regency Club for nightly canapes. A 60-pound per person daily breakfast brunch. Very bougie. Very not-us (a generous benefactor connected us with this property). We were upgraded to a room that faced a small private park, and were pleased to find a handwritten note from the hotel, personally welcoming us, with bottled water and delicious toffee.

Although it was hard to tear our weary bodies from the amenities of the hotel, we headed back out and quickly noticed quite a commotion in every direction. Hordes of parkgoers. Sort of like San Fran on a warm summer day. Closed off roads. What alerted us to something being different though, was so many folks dressed head to toe in Union Jack. 

It soon clicked that we had walked straight into the opening ceremonies of the Queen's 70th Jubilee celebration. On the one hand, this was pretty cool to witness. On the other, it was pure madness, much like accidentally wandering into Times Square on New Years Eve.  

We started off our walk at Marble Arch, and walked through Hyde Park, with the intention of showing Ryan Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace. We soon noticed we walking very much against the tide of thousands of people. Even with the crowd surging against us, it was obvious that the park was very much a peaceful haven in less chaotic circumstances. It appeared to be the runner's dream- lots of shade, relatively flat, with dirt pathways.

As we got closer to the mall near Buckingham Palace, we realized the magnitude of the event (the Trooping of the Color, where the entire Royal Family gathers on the patio to wave to the crowd). This photo from the news that evening made us realize exactly what the road to Buckingham Palace looked like and why it was so hard to get there. This is what was streaming out of the park, as we walked in. People had camped for hours/days to get a spot there. When we walked through it, it was still very crowded, but emptying out, and there were newscasters and media everywhere.

The closest we could get to showing Ryan Buckingham Palace, where the royals had departed earlier... The Queen had made one of only two appearances during the 4-day Jubilee celebration/holiday of her 70th year serving as the Queen (she has mobility issues), moments earlier.

Walking back up the mall to Trafalgar Square from the palace

Trafalgar Square

While walking through the theatre district, we saw a number of play billboards, which reminded us that Rich could hopefully catch a show while we were in town. He saw the Book of Mormon while we were in Dublin last year, and loved it.

We ended up having a very late lunch around 4pm. We spied a Whole Foods and were so excited, that we went to the hot bar to load up on healthier fare after nearly two weeks of eating decadently. I was excited to be doing so, until I saw how much our tiny amount of food costed.

Once we were done, we went walking along Oxford Street so Ryan could do more school shopping.

We ended our evening back at the Regency Club and had a lighter dinner of canapes,  bread/cheese/prosciutto and fried fruits/nuts. I managed to have not one, but three desserts as well. Because why not? Ryan had his usual bottle of flat water and a single nut so he could proclaim himself 'full' and could go back to the room and eat his stash of chips instead.