Megan and the Queen
Trip Start
Oct 22, 2005
1
109
224
Trip End
Ongoing
London, United Kingdom
Saturday, June 17, 2006
After a couple of hours of patiently waiting there were thousands of people all trying to get a front row glimpse of the parade route. At one stage an American lady next to us saw an opening and pushed through to the front, only to be abused by an English lady in a thick cockney accent "Excuse me love, what'd you fink you're doin?" The American was hastily pushed back into the sea of people, though later we did hear "People in New York are never this rude!" coming from the crowd behind us. We both looked at each other and rolled our eyes. Soldiers dressed in their finery then marched down the road, positioning themselves at equal spaces, machine guns with bayonets attached, held in salute. Many bands and soldiers marched by, followed by both mounted soldiers and even a mounted band! The Sergeant then yelled "Royal Salute!" and we saw the Queen and Duke in the royal carriage go pottering by. We'd seen the Queen and given a wave; our trip to London was now complete.
With the crowds thinning out we wandered back through the city (we actually know our way around this place now) and headed to Leicester Square for the free open air show, West End Live. Here they had single acts by the shows currently playing on the West End. We saw songs and acts of Mamma Mia, The Producers, the Blue Man Group and Chicago to name a few. We also picked up our free show bags and saw the car display showing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the Mini's from the movie the Italian Job and the original Pink Panther car! During one of the acts by Mamma Mia, the RAF performed a huge flyover for the Queen. Planes overhead ranged from Spitfires, Typhoons and Tornados through to Harriers and a Canberra. They were followed by the famous Red Arrows, trailing red, white and blue colours behind them. This was a great way to finish off the day.
On Sunday afternoon the FIFA World Cup was in full swing with the Australia versus Brazil match so we decided to catch-up with some friends at the Aussie Walkabout pub in Finchley Road. We arrived early and with some serious drinking ahead, decided to grab some food at a pub upstairs. With an hour to go before the start of play we figured we'd head to the pub, only to be confronted by a 20 meter long queue and a bouncer saying the place was full, suggesting people go elsewhere to watch the match. As our friends, Amanda and Terry, were already inside we decided to stick it out and, with fingers crossed, hopefully get in. After about thirty desperate minutes we were at the front of the queue and as a girl left the bouncer let us both in. Looking back at the faces lined with desperation, the line had grown behind us to be about 150 meters long. Inside the pub was a sea of green and gold, Australian flags waving. It was great. Grabbing a beer and a great viewing position of the TV screens we watched both Brazil and Australia run onto the pitch. Singing the Australian national anthem with a heap of other Aussies was fantastic and filled us with pride. The pub had a great atmosphere and the small contingent of Brazilian fans were pretty cool too. Unfortunately Australia was beaten 2-0, but at least we have another chance against Croatia. It's funny that back home in Australia we don't follow soccer, or football as it's called here, but with the World Cup on the English are football mad. You can't help being caught up in the excitement and it's great to have Australia in there to support.
