God Save The Queen!

When I return home in a few weeks and people ask me what my favorite part of being in London was I will easily be able to say, "The weekend I spent celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee!" Not only is a diamond jubilee unlikely to ever happen again in our lifetime but the camaraderie and lively attitude of the entire city made me feel as happy as I have ever felt in this city. It truly hit home for me just how much I love London and being a part of so much history that is happening while I take off this year to study. Through rain, wind, endless crowds and at times, short tempers I was able to celebrate with friends (and approximately 1 million other proud British folks) the life of the Queen and the love that England and it's commonwealth have for her. Even for those who are self-proclaimed anti-monarchists seemed to join in the festivities as they recognized the importance of such an event!
The first part of the weekend I celebrated was on Sunday for the flotilla a.k.a. boat parade, down the River Thames. Over 1,000 boats flying flags from all the commonwealth territories and other such decorations floated down the river in a nearly 4 hour parade. We arrived at Westminster Bridge at approximately 10:30 and were greeted by swarms of people all trying to push their way to the front of the barriers by the bridge sides in an attempt to stake out the best position possible. We managed to secure a spot for 7 of us in a decent spot just a couple people behind the barrier. For the next 5 hours we played Uno, shared our picnic lunches and laughed at stories told by the Grampa who came alone to watch. Being that we were standing on Westminster Bridge and right next to Big Ben we also counted down every 15 minutes. Every time the bells rang one of us would say "oh! only 3 hours and 45 minutes to go!" or "yay! only 30 minutes to go!" you get the idea.

The Queen's Boat

As soon as the flotilla started to come by peopled pushed and shoved and I was jostled back a few places to where I couldn't really see much! Luckily, Will is very tall and I was able to sit on his shoulders to view the parade above everyone's heads!! The actual flotilla was like nothing I have ever seen. There was live music on one of the boats and all different shapes and sizes of crews rowing down the river. I took over 100 pictures I think but I'll just share with you the one carrying the Royal Family.
I wish it was better quality but oh well, I know they're there!
Monday afternoon was also an exciting day! Chris and I decided to try and get as close to Green Park as we would be allowed in hopes of hearing some of the concert and then we would head over to one of the street parties in Leicester Square. Little did we realize that walking up Pall Mall we were actually able to head right up to the front of the Gates to Buckingham Palace! It was remarkable! I'm so happy that both of us are little and able to slither and wiggle our way to the front of any crowd. There were at least 20 screens lining Pall Mall and the park so we parked ourselves in front of one of them and enjoyed the music from Sir Elton John, Ed Sheerhan, Sir Paul McCartney and so many other British artists. It blew me away how happy and joyful and excited everyone was! Just to be singing along and dancing in the street and jumping up and down waving our flags! I was also told that Javi's mom and sister saw us on the tv when clips were being replayed from it!!! We were sitting across from a camera and were hoping but had no idea what station it was for. Apparently an American one! yay! Anyways, the show that the light technicians put on was also incredible! At 9:30 when it was dark enough they started projecting pictures and movies on to the front of Buckingham Palace! It was stunning to see and the fireworks show at the very end rivaled ANY fireworks display I have ever witnessed on July 4th at home. I of course took hundreds of pictures and TONS of videos as well so anyone who wants to see those just let me know when I'm home!
At the end of the concert Chris and I literally skipped out of the park waving our flags hollering God Save the Queen and We Love London!!! laughing our way to the tube along with 50,000 others. We decided to walk rather far away because they were limiting access to tubes anyways because of the great crowds. It was exhausting but completely worth it.
Tuesday was a very special day as well and we arrived back to our spot from the concert the night before to watch the procession of the Royal family to and from St. Paul's Cathedral where her thanksgiving mass was held and also to see her wave from the balcony. We waited over 6 hours for that wave and let me tell you, it was more than worth it. When we first arrived at the park we pushed our way to the front of the palace gates again and managed to snag a really good view of the gates and a spot where we would easily be able to see the Queen pass by. Unfortunately, after she re-entered the palace the police started allowing people from the back of Pall Mall to come forward into the palace gates and I swear I thought there was going to be a riot! People at the front of the gates who had been waiting since 5am were furious that those who showed up late or at least much later than them were going to make it inside the palace gates and they were not. There was lots of boo-ing and chanting of "let us in!" and I actually felt a little light headed from being crushed by people trying to push past the barriers. Chris and I decided to try and run back towards where they were letting the crowds in but by the time we reached the pathway they had already closed it. So what did we do? Hopped the gates of course! It may have been a little reckless considering all the police and security around but we did NOT wait that long to see the wave just to be stopped by some metal barriers. We wiggled, slithered, pushed and maybe even shoved a little until BAM we were at the front just to the left of the balcony. We had a clear view of everything and my eyes were brimming with tears because we made it so close! It had been a very long few days of no sleep, lots of standing, and lots of high emotions which for someone who cries as easily as I do means something like this was going to make me tear up.

When the Royal family walked on to the balcony the crowds went wild and I was waving my flag like a maniac in between trying to take as many pictures as possible! I got quite a few good ones that I'm really proud of. There was a 60 gun salute, a fly-over including red white and blue smoke from the Red Arrows. It was absolutely stunning and I know that nothing in my life will ever be like this experience.
I hope that some of you were able to watch this on television, or even the clips and re-runs that BBC was playing throughout the weekend. If not, go look it up on youtube. You won't regret it.

The Royal Air Force fly-over ended the Jubilee weekend here and according to one paper the Queen was 'humbled' by it all. She truly is a remarkable woman though to many it seems she does not do much. She represents so much to so many people around the world and my time here has led me to respect her and appreciate the excitement of having royalty around. I love all things patriotic even if they aren't for my home country and I am truly unbelievably grateful that I was able to be in London for this unforgettable experience.

Yah, I'd say we had a pretty good spot!

Love from London,
Kristin

P.S. For anyone who was interested in what story was that the Grampa told us here it is: When people find out that I was in the war they always want to know if I had to fight anyone. I always answer, "yah! As soon as I got married!" It was much funnier coming from him, probably because I forgot a few words or something but we laughed really hard. We then asked him if he wanted any chocolate to which he replied, "oh no, I'm trying to watch my figure!" and then patted his belly. So a little while later when we pulled out some veggies we asked him if he wanted some of those as they were healthier and he said, "oh no thanks, I'm trying to quit."