The V&A + The Trooping of the Colour
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2011
1
3
26
Trip End
Aug 15, 2011
London, London, City of, United Kingdom
Saturday, June 11, 2011
We only did two things on our list of things to do yesterday but we were so whipped out! We will have to go back to Portobello Market on a Saturday morning (hopefully when its not raining) because that’s when they open up 500 more stalls of old antiques and vintage things.
So this morning was the Trooping of the Colour! OMG what an amazing experience! First I want to thank my parents, very, very much for the amazing camera they bought me for Christmas! That baby knows how to zoom! I had to take pictures for everyone since there cameras couldn’t zoom really well haha Anyways, we left the flat at 8 in the morning because we wanted a really good spot and we didn’t know how many people would actually be there. When we got to the Mall it wasn’t too bad and we walked all the way down it to Buckingham Palace and found a really good front row seat around the roundabout on the left side (too bad we didn’t sit on the right because that’s the side they went by but oh well!).
After two hours of waiting the parade began! There were tons of marching bands and the royal guards and horses! One time, this horse got spooked or something and freaked out and fell over throwing the guard off him! I felt so bad for the horse but it got up and trotted away haha then came a carriage carrying Kate Middleton, Camilla and Prince Harry! I about died! She was gorgeous of course! Wearing a really nice black British hat and cream dress :) I got a good picture of her right off the bat. Then came The Queen & Prince Phillip! She is so tiny! Haaha
So after waiting for 2 hours they like flew by us. Then we had another hour and a half wait till they came back down the mall from the guard inspection. The weather was so-so, pretty chilly at times and it drizzled at one point. Three of my flat mates went to get coffee when we were waiting, so we were saving their spots. British people can get extremely pushy! Jeez! This lady came up and like pushed me out of the way; I was pisssssed! Especially since we had been there since before 9 with those seats. She was not pleasant to stand next to that’s for sure, thinking she was above us since she was British and we were Americans.
Once they came back down the Mall, we were hoping they would go in front of us but they went back the same way they came in. I was able to get a really good picture of Prince Harry though so I was happy haha Once they were all in the gate, half of the girls from my flat left because they were cold but the rest of us stayed. I’m glad I was the stubborn one that wanted to stay because we were able to go into the roundabout up to the gate! We got right up near the fountain in the middle of the roundabout so we had an awesome view of them all on the balcony. Plus it started to get super sunny and warm. Then we watched the royal fly by which was pretty cool seeing the planes. My favorite was the finale where they had red, white and blue smoke coming out the back of the jets. I took a million pictures of the Royal Family on the balcony! Haha but when else will I ever see the Royal Family in my lifetime?! It was so much fun! It was such an awesome experience and I get to check another thing off my list of things to see—Kate Middleton & the Princes haha
