Our Royal Wedding

So with much hype and expectation the Royal Wedding came and went over a week ago now.

As with everywhere in the world there were some that didn't want to know about it while there were others who camped out for days to get a good spot to see the bride and groom. To see the most committed though check this guy out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVWKlUi2avo

If you can't view that video search for John Loughrey on YouTube

Jackie and I were in the middle of that spectrum although I think I was a bit more excited in the lead up than Jackie, but then the day before Jackie got into the spirit, buying us ingredients for a breakfast fit for a prince and princess (or Duke and Duchess as it turns out).

The night before the wedding we headed down to Clapham Common to have a look at 'Camp Royale' a temporary camping ground where people were believed to be going to stay and party over the weekend.

Camp Royal was a bit of a let down but we did see a guy riding a penny farthing which made the trip worth while

Camp Royal

A sneak peak inside camp royal confirms that there is nothing royal about it. 

Our Royal Wedding went something like this...

I woke up early, excited and woke Jackie up, we had to get packed for our night in Henley, have our Royal Breakfast and get somewhere to watch the main event.

Our Royal Breakfast

I had the computer streaming the BBC first thing so we could watch everyone turn up to the wedding as we got ready.

Jackie with the red and blue on for the wedding.

After breakfast and packing we took our bags and headed in to Balham, the first pub we went to we couldn't get a seat, everything was either taken or reserved  - at 10:30 in the morning! The next place we tried was all but empty so we settled down with a drink, they had an ale called 'Perfect Union' so I had to have one of those, and this is where we watch the ceremony.

Our spot for watching the wedding, it's a sports pub so there was booming sound for the 6 people that were here. 

Around midday we left to go to Heathrow to pick up my parents.

We decided to walk to nearby Wandsworth Common train station to give us the chance to see any street parties, we saw a couple, including one with a bouncy castle, but I think most people were still glued to their tvs so there wasn't so much going on to see.

Signs of a Street Party, road closed but the partly taking place around the corner.

St James Street Party, Bouncy Castle and Hog Roast were going to make this a doozy I reckon.

From Wandsworth Common our route took us through Victoria train station which was tantalizingly close to Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, I told Jackie she might have to hold me back in case I made a break for it to join in with the million or so people. I managed to restrain myself though and we got on the tube to Heathrow, finding my parents and picking up a rental car all went well and we were on the road to Henley.

Our first stop though was Danesfield House for a Royal afternoon tea that Jackie had organised. I don't have any photos but the website (http://www.danesfieldhouse.co.uk/) gives you a fair idea of how nice this place was. We all ordered the Royal Afternoon Tea which included scones with clotted cream and jam, sandwiches and cakes and pastries. It was a ridiculous amount of food and we were never going to finish it all but I did my best to get through most of it.

From there it was on to Henley were we were staying in the Rowbarge Pub accommodation. After spending about 5 minutes trying to find the hand brake to park on the hill we moved on to the pub which was too busy to check us in to our room so we had a drink while we waited to be checked in. The other patrons had clearly been there since the start of the wedding, there were several people that were worse for wear which gave us plenty of entertainment while we waited.

After getting checked into our rooms, and watching some of the highlights of the wedding we went for a walk around Henley, which is a beautiful English town and had a great meal and a Greek Mezze restaurant, although I really didn't need any more food after the huge afternoon tea.

So that was about it for our Royal Wedding. Jackie and I were kept up into the wee hours by the noise of the pub including various arguments which we could here in a lot of detail. That combined with Pride and Prejudice on the tv was entertaining enough that we didn't mind staying up later than usual.

The next day, after a poor breakfast we went for a walk along the river, stopping for a while at Henley Lock watching all the boats go through. Lunch and an ice cream was all that remained before getting in the car and heading back to London.