Let’s get straight to the good stuff. This is for the weekend of January 28th to the 30th.
Friday morning I went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Thinking I was going to be early, I got there around 10:30am for the changing at 11:15. It was packed. After searching 10 minutes for a spot, I finally found a space on the left end gate and mentally prepared for the awesomeness that was about to begin.
Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention- it was freezing. I can’t remember a time that I ever experienced anything colder. I momentarily thought that I lost the ability to be warm. I must admit, it was at my own risk and stupidity. I was wearing leggings with a short little dress, boots, and a thin little coat. I had gloves stowed away in my bag, thank god, but it wasn’t doing much.
Anyway, the festivities finally began at exactly 11:15. It started as a parade, a band leading the way with the guards not far behind. I moved from my gate position to get a better look and ended up right next to them as they entered the palace gates! I turned around to try to see them behind the gates and……ugh, I gave up my spot. So, I spent the next 15 minutes trying to find a spot, with absolutely no luck, and left because I thought my fingers were going to freeze off. Oh well, I live here, so I’m sure I can fit it in again before I leave in April.
On Saturday, Alyssa and I went to the Tower of London! Now this was cool! Did you know that King Henry (VI?) had 12,314 diamonds on his crown? Did you also know that many of the crown jewels that are on display are still used during coronations? There was a spoon in there from the 12th century that they still drink from! Oh yeah, and the largest cut diamond (The first star of Africa) is on the top of one of their cyphers! We stayed for about three hours; it was one of the coolest things I’ve seen since being here. The amount of history in that place is earth shattering!
Sunday was high tea day. Well, sorta. High tea is an afternoon pass time where people drink tea; eat crumpets, biscuits, and yummy puddings (desserts). We arrived at the original tea place to find it closed on Sundays, which was sad. But we held our heads high as we quickly diverted ourselves to Holborn to try another place- Bees something or other. We arrived and it looked so cut on the outside, with displays of cupcakes and biscuits, I was excited.
Well, too bad, it was reservation only. Hmmm, epic fail. We decided to walk around for a food place instead because we were starving and had given up the unattainable idea of high tea. We ended up finding a place called the Spaghetti House (which is a chain, but we had never been, so it was still a new experience). They had really yummy Italian food and what do you know? They had tea!! We ordered a few pots and it was just as good as the best tea place in town! (Well, I don’t actually know that for a fact, but I’m looking on the bright side here people!)
Keep checking back, this week I got to go to a pub for work and write my first real blog! Check that one out at http://amazingpr.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/the-troubadour-from-day-to-night-american-edition/.
Love from London,
B
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