Pre-Wedding Fever in London

Always happy to fly London, I lucked out this month and held a vacation replacement line with three London trips.  I even snagged position 5 on the 777, which once I got the hang of it, I have come to realize is the sweetest position on the plane (First Class Galley).

I'm on the late late trip this month which means we don't land until 12:15 in the afternoon.  In order to maximize your layover time, you have to hit the ground running and try to hang on until bedtime.

I was flying with a pretty fun group of gals on my last trip and we decided to head down to Buckingham Palace to check out the preparations for the Royal Wedding on Friday.

I quick ran over to Boots and Waitrose for my layover provisions.  I always hit up Boots for my friend Dr. Terry who is addicted to their antacid, Remegel.  There used to be a gal named Eunice who worked there and she thought it was strange that I would by so many boxes of the stuff so I had to tell her all about Dr. Terry and his heartburn.  It got to the point that every time I would step in to make my purchase she wanted an update on Terry's condition.  She's since transferred to another store.

It started out as a beautiful day for walking around outside.  It was kind of warm, but still very pleasant.

London is all a buzz with wedding excitement.  A couple of the girls on the crew needed Oyster cards (it's a tube pass) and they even have a special commemorative card to honor the engagement and wedding.

There is also no shortage of cheesy gifts.  We saw everything from aprons to tea towels, tea cups to playing cards, stickers to magnets.  You name it, they made it.  Susan is modeling one of the more fashionable aprons we saw.

I guess the increase in tourists and sightseers has led to an increase in petty theft because we saw the following sign.  I sure could have used that advice for our crew when we were in Madrid last month!

The Union Jack is everywhere.  The Mall, the road leading up to the Palace, had every light post covered with a Union Jack flag.  This will be the final leg of the carriage ride from Westminster.

My great crew (from Left to Right, Mary Jo, Becky, Susan (small world, I went to the same high school as her parents), Barri Lynn, and Truely) posing for a shot outside the palace gates.

Standing in front of the palace on this photo, you can see the Green observation platform that was constructed for the press and selected visitors.  They will have a front row seat for "the waves" that the Royal couple will offer from the balcony of the palace.  My friend John, who I met at the Presbyterian church I attend here, told me they had a lottery for the civil service employees working at Parliament (of which he is one) for 100 seats.  Those lucky folks chosen will have the best view in the house.  But he explained there are a lot of civil service folks so the odds are not that good you will be selected.

We next made our way thru St. James' Park because we wanted to head over to Westminster to see what preparations were being made for that venue.  You can always tell when it is a beautiful day because the public parks are packed with people and today was no exception!

As we approached Parliament and the Abbey, the area became very crowded.  Obviously, everyone else had the same idea we did.

A viewing platform was also erected here at Westminster for the media to catch a glimpse of the couple as they come and go from the church.

The girls decided they wanted to do a bit more shopping (women!) so it was here that I decided to take my leave.  I wanted to head over to St. Paul's for their Easter Eve service and of course pay a visit to Yo! Sushi for some dinner (the waitresses consider me a regular apparently!).  I figured I could walk up the Thames and it would take me about a half hour.  About five minutes into the walk I hear a huge clap of thunder and shortly after that it started raining!  Luckily, I walked next to the buildings avoiding a lot of the rain but I was still moist by the time I got to the restaurant.

The service at St. Paul's was really great.  I love "High Church", especially on important holidays in the church calendar.  The service also marked the occasion of the first Baptisms, Communions and Confirmations of new members of the Church of England, so I got to witness all those events.  At over 2 hours, it was a long service, but well worth it.

I headed back with a stop at Picadilly.  I wanted to see if any of the area around that landmark was decorated for the wedding.

It was about 10pm or so by the time I got back to the hotel.  The tube stop by the hotel was closed so I had to get off at the stop before and walk about 20 minutes.  By this time I was exhausted.  I guess it tends to happen when you go on very little sleep.

I slept great, obviously.  The flight home was a breeze.  We have been real light in First all month and we only had five people.  Our trip home took us way north over the 66th North parallel so we got to see a lot of Greenland.  Normally we just hit the southern tip.  I snapped a few photos of the rugged terrain and some of the glacier beds.  We have to carry extra oxygen canisters for flying over 66N because the terrain is so high you can only descend to 17,000 feet in a decompression .

We go back to London on Thursday night so we will be there for the Wedding, although we land at noon and the festivities get started at 11am.  I hope are able to be a part of at least a bit of the madness next week!