The Big Day

Darrel and I were able to make our way down to St James Park and get a spot to watch the procession to and from Westminster Abbey.  We were right across the street from the Horse Guard Parade (see the picture of the map below), and it turned out to be a perfect spot.  During the actual wedding, the entire ceremony was broadcast over speakers throughout the park.  It was a very amazing time to be here in London for. 



The X with a circle around it is where we were standing for the Procession and pics below :-)



Catherine's Rolls Royce on the way to the Abbey



One of the Horse Guards patrolling St. James Park



The Procession begins to come through Horse Guard Parade

First glimpse of the Royal Carriage

William and Catherine

Route of the Procession

Today, I decided that I would try and walk around where the wedding festivities were going to be taking place on Friday.  Without really knowing it at the time (I found out when I looked it up on the internet when I got home), I ended up walking the exact route of the procession.  It will be starting at Buckingham Palace, going down The Mall, through Horse Guards Parade, down Whithall Street past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and finally ending at Westminster Abbey.  After the ceremony, the procession will reverse the exact same route.  Below are the pictures I took while on the walk.

Buckingham Palace

The Mall (road through St. James Park with Buckingham Palace on one end and Trafalgar Square on the other)



Bronze Statue of Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) and King George VI on The Mall



The Horse Guard Parade...the Procession will go right through the middle arch

A better close-up of the arch that the procession will pass through (it's where all the people are at in right center of the picture)

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Olympic Tickets

Yesterday, we put our application in for tickets to the 2012 London Summer Olympics. It was a very complicated and interesting process. First of all, in order to apply for the tickets, you have to be a UK resident with a valid mailing address here. You also have to have a Visa card in order to pay for the tickets...Visa is the corporate sponsor for the games and that is the only valid way to pay for them. UK residents had a 6 week window to apply for the tickets, and the deadline for the application was midnight last night. So luckily we got in just within the wire.

Once you register with the Olympic website, you can then go through and buy tickets to the events that you would want. What's very weird about this whole thing is that you really are only "applying for" and not necessarily "buying" the tickets at this time. Meaning, that you go through and "buy" tickets for the events not really knowing whether the tickets are available or not.  After all the applications are submitted and reviewed by the Olympic Committee, the events that are extremely popular (i.e. Opening Ceremonies, Swimming, Diving, Gymnastics, etc.) where there will probably be more people applying for tickets than there are actual tickets...those tickets will be given out through a lottery process. If one applies for tickets to events that are less popular, and there are a sufficient amount of tickets for those events, the tickets will be given out without a lottery.  Below is what the Olympic Committee is telling all the applicants:

"If you applied for Olympic Games tickets prior to 26 April 2011 your application will be processed and, where demand for tickets exceeds supply, London 2012 will use an automated random selection process ('ballot') to ensure the fairest possible distribution and allocation of tickets on a session-by-session basis. If you are successful, payment will be taken between 10 May 2011 and 10 June 2011. Please ensure you have sufficient funds available between these dates. A notification will be sent to confirm which tickets you have been allocated by 24 June 2011."

Hopefully, we are lucky in getting some of the tickets we applied for....keep your fingers crossed.

Royal Wedding Preperations...

Darrel and I walked all around town today.  Many of you have asked about how it feels being here in London with the Royal Wedding coming up.  It's very strange, but I think that it is probably more popular back in the States than it truly is here.  When we were waiting for our Visas to come and were still in Chicago, it seemed that all the news programs were talking about it.  Once we got here, you really don't hear anyone talking about it, unless it is a tourist or you happen to walk by a tourist stand selling Royal Wedding Merchandise.  I made Darrel walk to Regent Street (it's one of the main shopping streets here in London...to give you an idea, the main Apple Store is on Regent Street), because I heard they started stringing up flags all down the street.  Supposedly they are flying over 200 flags, and the above picture is what it looks like.  The funny and ironic thing is...the procession is not even going down this street.  However, I thought you all would get a kick out of it.

We also strolled through Regent's Park today...

The Gardens of Babylon

Last night we were invited to a cocktail party to kick off the long bank holiday weekend....here in London almost everyone gets Good Friday and Monday off for bank holidays and Easter.  The party was held in the Roof Gardens of Kensington.  It was a gorgeous space and if you can believe this, took place on top of a massive building on Kensington High Street.  The gardens were spectacular, and they even had live flamingos in one of the ponds (yes, the flamingos in the pictures are alive...they're all just asleep).  Here are some of the pictures that we took...they don't do the space justice, but you all can get an idea of the space.

FYI...all the pictures that I have posted on this blog can be clicked on and then the pictures should be opened in another window so they are larger.  Just to let you all know, if you haven't figured that out already.

Oxford

I was able to go and visit my friend Michael out in Oxford a couple of days ago.  Oxford is about an hour and a half west of London, and Michael and his partner Greg have lived there for the past 3 years.  It is very beautiful, and the University is different than a University in the States..instead of one giant campus there are about 40 different colleges, each with it's own specialty.  Michael and Greg were great tour guides and showed me a handful of the colleges.  It was a great day and very beautiful.  Below is a couple of pics from the day...

All Souls College

Keble College in the background...the tulips have been blooming all over.

The Chapel for Keble College

  

A courtyard in Magdalen College.

Magdalen College

Outside of Christ Church College.  If you have seen Brideshead Revisited, this is where Sebestian supposedly lived.  I've never actually seen it, but it was a very popular series here in England in the 80''s, and then a movie that came out a year or two ago.

The Hall (what we would call the student cafeteria) in Christ Church.  Does it look familiar?  It should if you are a Harry Potter fan...this is where they shot several scenes for the Harry Potter movies.

Darrel's 1st West End Play

On Saturday, Darrel and I went to see THE CHILDREN'S HOUR with Keira Knightley, Elizabeth Moss, Ellen Burstyn and Carol Kane.  It was very powerful and good.  It was amazing to be able to see Ellen Burstyn live on stage along with Keira Knightley and Elizabeth Moss.  I thought that Ellen Burstyn was great, but Keira tried to do a New England accent (the play takes place in the 30's in a New England girl's school) and it seemed really forced and not all that believeable.  Actually, the best person in the whole play was an unknown by the name of Bryony Hannah.  She played a girl at the school that gets punished and then retaliates by saying that Elizabeth Moss' and Keira Knightley's characters are lesbians.  She was really really good and believable as a bratty little girl...in fact, by the end of the first act you can't stand her character.  The play was originally written back in 1936, and was banned in many countries because of the subject matter (England being one of them.  In 1961, it was made into a movie with Shirley Maclaine and Audrey Hepburn.  Needless to say, it was not a lighthearted afternoon at the theatre, but we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

1st Play in the West End

My friend Michael came to town yesterday and we were able to get matinee tickets for the play IN A FOREST, DARK & DEEP.  The play was written by Neil Labute, and was a 2 character play starring Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams, playng brother and sister.  We both really enjoyed it, and thought that Matthew Fox was (as they say here in London) quite brilliant. 

I'm very excited about all the theater that is here in London.  Also, it's great how easy it is to get discounted "Day of" tickets...most of the shows have a handfull of tickets that they won't sell until the day of the performance, and they are usually discounted.  We were able to get front row seats to this play for 10 pounds, which was great.

The Hunt is Over

We made an offer on a 2 bdrm/2 bath flat, and it was accepted....Woohoo!!  It's crazy, but here in London you have to make an offer on flats even for rentals, just like you would if you were to purchase the property.  The above picture is of the building...and our flat is on the 3rd floor (it's the 3 windows on the upper left).  It's a small 2bdrm, but is going to be very nice because at the moment it is being completely refurbished.  They've told us that the construction will be done in less than 2 weeks, and we should be able to move in at the latest on April 25th. 

A couple of posts ago, I wrote that we were going to move into the Kensington Palace.  As you can see from the picture below (which again is of our building), I wasn't that far off...we are going to be right across the street.  Well, I guess you can see the Palace if you squint.

The Walking Tour Continues

Today was probably the last day for the nice, sunny weather we've been having here in London.  I got out one last time and did my longest walk yet...7.1 miles.  It's been great to go all around and see London by foot, and also a great way to learn the city.  I think I'm getting a pretty good grasp of the North and West part of the city.  We have been so lucky that it's been so nice for the first week that we're here. 

This is a pic of the Wellington Arch, and it sits at the Hyde Park Corner (which is the SE corner of Hyde Park and the NW corner of Green Park).

Springtime in London

Well, we have been here a week and I think we couldn't have picked a better week to move to London.  I know I keep saying this...but it's been gorgeous all week, around 65-70 degrees and sunny almost every day.  Everyone keeps telling us that it's never like this, so we have been trying to get outside as much as possible.  Yesterday, I took this picture in Notting Hill when Darrel and I ended up walking about 3 1/2 miles.

Our New Residence....

Ok...they really haven't invited us into the Kensington Palace yet, but I'm sure when they do we'll be able to move right in.

All kidding aside, I have looked at about 20-30  flats over the past 4 days.  I have seen some really good ones, and some not so good.  This morning, Darrel has looked at 3 of them and we are scheduled to look at 5 more tomorrow morning.  I think we are down to maybe 2 or 3 that we really want, and we're hoping to make an offer on one tomorrow.  It's very odd, but you make offers on flats here just like you were to buy something.  I'll keep you all posted, hopefully we'll have a more permanent residence in the next day or two.