The wait was fine. We were lucky it was sunny, too sunny for Caroline. Bennett put his raincoat on the ground so they had someone where to sit. We’re not too sure what all that parts of the ceremony were but around 10:45, more of the guard showed up. Bennett was able to sneak his way to the front, as there was an opening between two people. Caroline stuck with me and wanted to go on my back… which was fine in theory but it was hot, and she was heavy. The ceremony felt looooonnnggg because of it. Partway through, it was hoping it’d rain, so that I could cool off a bit because I was sweating so much. I guess my prayers were answered because it started to drizzle… then downpour. Caroline was still on my back so I didn’t have a way to get the umbrella. Luckily peoole around us did and we were able to stand beneath theirs. Two bands each played songs. And then Bennett came back and said he was done, which was fine with me! It was still raining pretty hard and we were in the middle of the crowd. What we didn’t realize is that since we were standing in front of Buckingham Palace, we weren’t allowed to cross the streets to leave until the ceremony was over. The cerelony lasted for about another 15 minutes before we could go.
We made our way to Westminster Abbey, which was about a 15 minute walk. It was only sprinkling so the walk wasn’t too bad. Before we went inside, we stopped at a stand to get Bennett some water. Caroline uncharacteristically asked for a hotdog, which was huge! She had about 2 bites of hotdog, but ate half of the bun. Bennett and I are the rest for her.
Westminster Abbey was really great to see. I didn’t realize all the people that were buried there. There were tombs everywhere! We saw the tombs for Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, Jane Austin and many kings and queens. The kids actually got a little bored towards the end, so we rushed through.
Afterwards we walked around the corner to take a picture with Big Ben. It was closed for refurbishment so we weren’t able to tour it, but at least we got a photo.
Luckily for us, the train station was across the street. We decided to make our way back to the hotel area and eat at Pizza Express. I had been hoping to have afternoon tea at Kensington Palace but the kids were SO happy about Pizza Express. I was happy too because I was able to run back to the hotel and drop off the umbrellas, which we’re getting surprisingly heavy.
We walked the 15 minutes to Kensington Palace. It was much more quaint than the other palaces and castles we had seen. The tour was uniquely designed so that there were 3 tours: one detailing the King’s Suites, another for suites for King Henry and Queen Caroline and the last showing the childhood rooms of Queen Victoria. Caroline was VERY to learn all about Queen Caroline, obviously.
After the tour, we met Joel and a colleague for dinner. I had suggested eating at Da Mario, an Italian restaurant Princess Diana supposedly used to take the boys to when they lived at Kensington Palace. The restaurant was packed but the food was good. I had a seafood spaghetti, joel had ravioli and the kids had a pasta with pancetta. Everyone enjoyed the food but Caroline was bummed when she later realized she could have had pizza again.
After dinner was the walk back to the hotel. The kids had a hard time fall asleep but we had walked plenty. We covered over 11k steps. I know when we’re about done for the day when the kids start complaining that their feet hurt. Caroline is always the first one to complain.
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