the royal wedding: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

last night at midnight, we decided the best idea for how to spend the next 14 hours would be to sleep on the lawn of buckingham palace.  (a note: i almost didn't go, but carly said, "carolyn.  this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" apparently those are the magic words to get me to do anything.  advice for adventurers: NEVER miss once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.)  

so we 14 bundled up & took the tube to st. james park.

as it happened, 1.2 million other people had the same idea!

 

there were thousands and thousands of people all around the palace, and all down the mall.  (not only here, but thousands went to trafalgar square and hyde park to watch the ceremony on jumbo screens!)  we got a lucky spot behind a berm of yellow flowers in front of buckingham (which flowers were trampled by the crowds throughout the night).  people were dressed as brides and princes and everyone had union jack flags.  a group of roustabout boys went dancing through the street singing "she's getting married in the morning!" (from "my fair lady").  tents everywhere.  really happy people everywhere (and some really drunk people too). 

i wore my tennis shoes for my mother because they have arch support.  i almost didn't bring them because...you know, london = fashion and all that, and i've never really been one for wearing tennis shoes around.  but mom said i should bring them just in case, and take care of my feet.  and you know what?  moms give really good advice.  when we left our flat, we hadn't really thought through the thing: we each brought a couple of granola bars and thought it'd be a little overnighter, see the wedding in the morning, no big.  instead, we spent 6 hours waiting for the sun to come up, then 5 more standing on the berm waiting for the wedding to start (at 11am), and then another 3 for the procession to return and the balcony kiss at 1:25!  in short, 14 hours (without much food) standing, walking and adventuring.  in other words, tennis shoes were the greatest thing i did.  so this one's for you mom:

we passed all this time talking about our hometowns and eating clif bars and practicing our english accents with new friends...

{the greatest teenagers ever: rosie, oliver, will, maddy, and toby}

{the band and crowd}

{kate on the way to the wedding. isn't this the most beautiful car?}

{the carriage with prince william and princess catherine coming back to buckingham}

{the balcony}

then i came home and slept for five hours.

we finished tonight off with a little gelato from fouberts.  hazelnut & chocolate.  mm-mm-mmmm.

(i've put more wedding pictures here.  enjoy!)