Saturday, 14th June                              London

Robyn writes: A long-held dream today: I finally went to the Trooping of the Colours parade in London! We were up nice and early to head into the Mall with the aim of getting there by about 10, which we managed fine. It was easy to find the direction to go: just follow the huge crowds heading that way! When we got to St James's Park, we decided a toilet stop and a cuppa would both be a good idea, so a nice policeman directed us back to the same cafe we were at yesterday! Then we wandered over to select a good viewing position.

 Thoroughly over-excited Aussie!

We found a spot on the mall where we were second in the row, which gave us a really good view along the road both ways. Then it was a case of stand and wait...and wait...and wait! There were Grenadier Guards and police men and women all of the way along, and troops of guards, and bands, so there was actually quite a bit to see. Finally the royals headed down to where the actual trooping of the colours took place, and we all clicked away in a frenzy! The crowd was most excited when the queen went by, and we had a great time spotting all of the minor royals in the carriages, and Princess Anne on horseback (she doesn't like carriages). William was on a horse too but I didn't actually realise as he wasn't looking our way. Harry was in a carriage; he must not be so horsey!

 Camilla and Kate

 The Queen and Prince Phillip

 Princess Anne and Prince William not looking at me!

Experienced Poms told us that we had an hour until they came back, so we went off for a walk to get the blood flowing through our feet again, made another toilet stop, and selected another good position for their return, and the crowd went wild clicking away again. All very satisfactory! Then we wanted to make our way to the palace for the balcony bit, but where we were on the left side of the mall had barriers stretching half way down. Most unfair as the people on the other side of the road were streaming out onto the road! We finally decided to walk away from the palace to get to the gap in our barriers and made it onto the road in time for the RAF fly past directly overhead, which was amazing! Unfortunately by the time we turned around to get past the fountain and see the balcony, the royals were waving goodbye and heading in, so we only got a few very far away photos. Oh well, it was a great day, the rain held off (just) and much cooler than it has been so no-one was fainting in the heat. My royal-watching photos were at least a little more successful than my puffin or seal watching photos, anyway, with a few good ones!

 No doubt about it, the British do pageantry better than anyone else!

 

 

 

 

 

After the parade, we headed back towards the British Museum to finish looking through it, so we walked through Green Park to the tube station there and it was only one change to get to Holborn, the closest station to the museum. As soon as we got there we had lunch in the cafe, and then split up to go and 'do' the museum again. I headed straight for the enormously popular Egyptian Mummy rooms - they were so crowded you could hardly move in there! I spent a happy hour or two perusing mummies before meeting up with Lex for afternoon tea. He'd been looking at Islamic Art and Chinese Prints. Then we headed off again for one last look around before meeting up at 5 to head home. Not too bad, we were back in Woolwich by 10 past 6.

I hit the bed to rest my poor tired feet and start the blog while Lex went for a walk down towards the Thames around the edge of town and beside the ferry to the back of the Arsenal (now being redeveloped, in yet another example of the building boom that's taking place down by the water here.) For tea we went just up the road to the local Nando's and had a lovely meal with great service. The cloud all seems to have cleared and the weather has turned quite cool here this evening, so I was glad to get back into the warm! Still, we can't complain - really, we've had a week of great weather for London. Now it's time to pack...sigh. Am over packing!

On the plus side, we're heading out to Leighton Buzzard to stay with Glen, Carol and Dave overnight tomorrow before heading off on our northern Wales canal boat cruise on Monday!