Day 26 - Coronation Festival, Buckingham Palace - London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
After a long day in Paris the previous day everyone wanted to sleep in this morning. I took the opportunity to make a quick jaunt to see some sights along the River Thames including the SIS Building which is the headquarters of MI-6, the British Military Intelligence and the Battersea Power Station which is a decommissioned coal-fired power station.
Back to the hotel to meet up with Corry and the girls who were busy getting ready for our date at Buckingham Palace. Today was the Coronation Festival which was being held in the gardens of the palace. The festival was an event put on by the Royal Warrant Holders Association to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
We headed to the palace by taxi and after a brief walk down Constitution Hill we entered the palace through the side gates and walked into the gardens. There were displays of the different Warrant Holders including Jaguar, Bentley, Walkers Shortbread and many tailors from Saville Row. A production of Alice in Wonderland was underway as we made our way through the gardens. One area of the grounds had some large gardens covered with flowers in full bloom.
We wandered around for a hour and half visiting the different exhibits and we then sat and listened to the concert that was going on. The band was playing music from the 40s and 50s and they had people dancing the dances of those times. It was another scorcher of a day and we decided to make our way back to the hotel. Leaving the palace we walked past Canada Gate and around the Queen Victoria Monument in front of the palace. There were tents set up outside the palace as all the news agencies were awaiting news of the birth of Prince William and Kate's baby (sadly it didn't happen during our visit!). We caught a taxi back to the flat and we spent some time re-charging our batteries.
Earlier in the week we had done some shopping along Oxford Street but hadn't covered all the shops. We decided to head back there for a few hours of shopping and it was crazy busy again. We managed to pick up a few things before heading back to the flat once again. I had spotted a Fish & Chip shop near the Sainsbury's we had frequented so we tried that for supper. It wasn't bad but they really don't do Fish and Chips as good in the South as in Manchester! In to Sainsbury's quickly where I struck gold, they had the Bakewell Tart pies I love so we picked up a couple to take home.