Monday, June 15, 2009

Trooping the Colour

Well let me just say first, we had a WONDERFUL time at Trooping the Colour! It was one of those days where you keep thinking, ‘I can’t believe that I’m here’. Our day started early. We caught the train at 7am and headed into London on Saturday morning. We had a nice ride into the city. Once we arrived at Paddington Station, we headed for the tube. We took the tube to Westminster. Here’s the view once we were above ground again. Do you recognize this fella? (smile)

Big Ben

We then walked around to the event site at Horse Guard’s Parade which is alongside St. James Park. The park is lovely. We timed things just right because there weren’t huge crowds when we got there and we were able to go through the security area quite easily. Here’s a view of the surroundings as we went along to get in line for security.

St James Park in London


There were only a few people there when we arrived so we were able to soak it all in and enjoy the vibe. As I said, we timed it right though because people really began to arrive about ten minutes after we sat down and some people just made it in in time. We had to be seated by 10am. Here are a couple of photos of the scene before everything got going.

Horse Guard's Parade in London


Here’s a photo of a Welsh Guard who was performing ushering duties and helping everyone find their seats.

Guardsman

We were sitting on the last row in our section, so we were situated right underneath the BBC box and sometimes we could hear them doing their commentary. Here’s a photo of some of the other various cameras that were perched behind us. I took this photo upside down.

BBC television cameras

And now I’ll give you a taste of how it all went, starting with the first band marching in. Here they are scattered around just for fun.




Here are a couple of photos of the Queen arriving and doing a ride around of the grounds. Behind her on the right on horseback, is Princess Anne, riding along in her dark uniform.




Here are a couple of more photos.





The Royal Standard (flag) is raised when she is in attendance. Here it is on the left.




After the whole spectacular display was over, we made our way onto the parade ground and watched our step due to natural “stuff” on the ground. (smile) We decided to go and walk along The Mall to see if we could just soak up some more of the atmosphere and possibly see the flyover of the military aircrafts.

This was a cool part of the day because we weren’t in any real hurry and we were just loving that we were getting the chance to walk right down the middle of The Mall on the way to Buckingham Palace. People had been lining the streets during everything and after the event was over, loads of people were walking around enjoying it all. Here’s a lovely view of our walk along in both directions, the first photo is towards the palace and the second is away.




We figured that the crowds would be huge down near the palace, but when we got there, people were milling around here and there and the crowd was loosely packed. So we kept getting closer and closer to the palace balcony. And then lo and behold, here came the Royal Family in all their glory onto the balcony and so I started snapping photos. Here’s the family photo. (smile)




This was a hilarious exercise because the sun was shining right into my eyes and I couldn’t see a thing, but somehow the photos came out pretty good. LOL. I was shocked. And for a moment I thought, I can’t believe this…it’s so surreal. Those are the real royals and not statues from Madame Tussauds museum. It was one of the most truly surreal moments of my life. When I came over to England a few years ago, it NEVER entered my mind that I would EVER see any of the royals. I never really expected anything like that. I had seen scenes like this on television back home and while I've been here, so it was great to see it all in real life.

Back to the Trooping the Colour event for a minute, Brit Boy and I found out that apparently 20,000 requests were made for tickets to Trooping the Colour and only 8,000 people were in attendance. And some tickets were given to VIPs, so the pool of potential tickets was even smaller, so we were just amazed about those odds. (smile)

As we walked away afterward, I told Brit Boy that I learned a valuable lesson from getting the tickets and from our unexpectedly great view of the Royal Family. I learned that you just simply have to go for WHATEVER you want in life and see what happens. You never know. I needed that lesson. What a great day we had!

17 comments:

Maureen said...

Wow - such great photos and a very well-written commentary too. Well done! I thought about you on the day and thought how lucky you were with the weather and hoped you were having a marvelous time. Well, you obviously had a perfect day! How exciting for you. That's so wonderful. I'm really pleased for you.

Anonymous said...

Amazing photo's and I second Maureen's comments on the post...well done! I feel as if I was right there standing next you the pictures were so good.

I owe you an email Dori I am so sorry I'm such a slacker...I've had it on my radar for far too long. We're in the middle of a family crisis here and I'll get a response off to you soon.

Unknown said...

What a great account of the day.

I've seen it on TV, and I should have known how you were dressed, because the camera went right over the area where you must have been seated.

I'll arrive in england july 10 at 5 or 6 in the morning (ugh). Still looking for affordable B&B from 15th to 20st in or outside London for me and my oldest son.

I'm thrilled to go. Can't wait!!

Anne said...

It looks like it was an extremely majestic display. So glad to hear you had a good time.

jacqueline said...

Hello Dori,
The photos are amazing. Are you sure you didn't miss your calling as a photographer? :-)

I'm glad you guys had a wonderful time and the weather cooperated nicely.

It's always a pleasure to read about your exciting adventures. Thanks for sharing with us.

Ivanhoe said...

That gave me goosebumps. Sounds like a wonderful experience, Dori. And I could just kiss you for the last picture. You got him after all ;o)

Alison said...

I love your photos, plus the Mall is always so pretty when events are on.

Alicia aka "Fashiona" said...

Beautiful pictures..I am do glad you have a great time and the weather seem good as well. The stars were aligned.

Anonymous said...

Cool Very very cool! I never even heard of Trooping the colors and now, I almost feel like I was there!!

HEALTH NUT WANNABEE MOM said...

How exciting and i love all the photos! I cannot even imagine the thrill of being there!!!

Jennifer said...

It sounds like you had a lovely time. And the photos really are amazing -- all that red and black and pomp and circumstance. Thanks for bringing us along!

Unknown said...

Amazing, amazing photos. Looks like not only a fun and educational time, but a trip that me and the missus have got to make one day. Thanks for sharing.

peace,
mike
livelife365

Duni said...

It's been a while since I last visited London. Your post reminded me of how much fun I had over there. I'd love to visit with my hubby sometime...

Dori said...

I'm so glad that you all enjoyed my photos and my account of the day :-) It was really a day that I'll put firmly into the scrapbook of my mind. We couldn't have asked for a better day. I'm so glad that I could share it with you all :-)

SE'LAH... said...

Fantastic photos!!! I am thrilled that you took the time to share these with us. So royal. Love it.

My fav is the Welsh guard on duty.
Wonder what he's thinking?

Dori said...

Se'lah,
So glad you liked the photos and I'm glad that I could share them with everyone :)

And yeah, I thought about the Welsh Guard too and I figured that he was saying and thinking, "Boy am I hot!" LOL. He kept wiping away the sweat. I felt for him. Thanks for stopping by :)

BLOGZOOM said...

Dori...

I found it funny that the name of your blog is just on the bar's porch velvet of real balcony! kkkkkk


Kisses