Week 8: October 22-28
- Katie & Webster
- Oct 28, 2018
- 5 min read
We are officially at the halfway mark - we have been in London for 8 full weeks, and we are here for 8 more. Our list of sights to see seems to never end but this week we made the most of our time and made sure to check some things off.
On Monday, Webster worked from home so we had lunch at our favourite spot at Buckingham Palace. As usual, we treated ourselves to a sausage roll from Gregg’s (only £1 each)! The Mall (the long road in front of Buckingham Palace) was decorated with huge British flags…we thought an event may be happening. After some research, we found out there was a state visit from the King and Queen of the Netherlands on Tuesday.
In the evening, Webster played soccer (he won!!) and I spent a quiet night at our flat doing some online shopping for Christmas.
On Tuesday, we headed back to Buckingham Palace at lunch. There was a huge carriage procession to welcome the King of the Netherlands to London. Since it was not publicized, we were lucky to get a good spot along the walkway. You would not believe how much security there was… After only waiting a few minutes, hundreds of horses came down the Mall…followed by the Queen, Prince Charles, and other royals from the Netherlands. As the Queen rode by, security ran alongside her carriage making it very difficult to take a photo. If you look closely you can see the Queen! It was so fun to watch all the action happen.
After the procession, we both walked back to work for the day. I stopped at the Guards Barracks to see them play some music - what an awesome lunch break!
After work, we came home for a quick dinner. Then, we headed back to Buckingham Palace because we heard there was going to be a State Dinner with lots of royals in attendance. We heard right! Whenever a royal arrives, police on motorcycles arrive first to clear both sides of the road, then a black SUV/car pulls up with tinted windows, you can tell if it is someone extra important if security prepares the entrance so they don’t have to wait. We saw Prince Charles, Camilla, Kate and William all arriving at Buckingham Palace! It was very dark outside so our pictures didn’t turn out too well, but we could see the glowing from their tiaras very clearly - so bright!
Here is a video of Prince Charles and Camilla arriving at Buckingham Palace:
Here is a video of Kate & Will arriving at Buckingham Palace:
On Wednesday, we took the tube to King’s Cross/St. Pancreas and visited Platform 9 3/4. This is the platform where Harry Potter boards the Hogwarts Express in the movies. Of course they have made a business out of the location, so we had to wait in a long line to get our photo with the trolley and sign.
On Thursday, we headed to Oxford Circus to do some shopping! It was a cold night but that didn’t stop all of London from heading to Oxford Circus…it was a zoo! We didn’t end up buying anything but it was fun to look around. We stopped at our favourite Selfridges shop to get some cookie dough at the end of the night :)
On Friday, we were extra’s in the TV special: Stand Up 2 Cancer. With hosts, lan Carr, Adam Hill, Maya Jama, and Chris O’Dowd. We stood by the stage for 4 hours while they did takes, retakes, and more retakes. Although most of the segments were pre-recorded it was fun to be in a venue where they were filming for live TV.
This was one of the live performances we saw, Tom Walker performing Leave A Light On. If you go to 3:28 in the video below, you can see Webster in a grey striped t-shirt, and me in a pink shirt to his right, beside the stage above the 4444.
On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to head to Windsor Castle. We took a train and were there in about an hour. It was the first day of Harry and Meghan’s new exhibit so it was very busy! We made our way up to the castle and took our time walking into the grounds. We stopped first to see St. George’s Chapel - where Harry and Meghan got married. We literally stood where they were when the whole world was watching - so exciting. Then, we headed into the State Apartments to see displays of furniture, accessories, and outfits from the past. Finally, we went to the Harry and Meghan exhibit. They showed us where they took their wedding day photos, the china used at their dinner, some never before seen photos, and finally their outfits. Meghan’s dress was absolutely breathtaking…very simple, and more white than I thought. Her veil was 16ft long! I loved the exhibit so much that I made Webster go through it two times!
We headed back into London around 4pm. It was rainy, cold, and windy so we came home for a quick nap before heading out for dinner. We went to Franco Manca, a favourite of ours near Victoria Station. Then we headed to do our groceries for the week…I know an exciting Saturday night, we even got some laundry done!
This morning, Sunday, we enjoyed a big sleep in because the clocks went back an hour. We woke up at 9:30, but it was really 10:30 yesterday. We spent the morning walking through St. James Park and towards Downing Street. As always, lots of security were at the gates onto the road, but it was fun to see where Theresa May, and many other Prime Ministers have lived.
Then we headed to the Columbia Road Flower Market. This is something we read about online so we didn’t know if it would be awesome, or a complete flop. I was SO glad we made the journey to the flower market. It was a small road with hundreds of people, and BEAUTIFUL flowers. We spent thirty minutes walking up and down the road looking at all the flowers. In the end, Webster bought me some lilies and an orchid. Now we have to work on keeping them alive :)
Afterwards, we headed back into Central London for lunch and quiet afternoon. We spent today booking some tickets for the rest of our time here and looking into activities for our next weekend away :)
Thanks for staying up to date with our adventures - if you would like to be notified next time we post, leave your email below and we will send you updates :)
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