Jubilee Weekend -1

I decided to have an outing to London today to see all the preparations and decorations for the upcoming Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a whole day in London - way before the pandemic. I’ve been eager to go.

I started the day at Sloane Square to look at all the amazing decorations that were part of ‘Chelsea in Bloom’ - an alternative floral art show where the area’s retailers, hotels and restaurants compete for the best floral design. This year’s theme is ‘British Icons’, so there were lots of images of the Queen, corgis, pillar boxes and teapots!  See my first and second Extra photos. There were many I didn’t see, but those I saw were amazing!  The winner was the giant pillar box at Hacketts - middle right of the first Extra. Several others also won awards.

There was also an exhibition called ‘Eggs of an Era’. See third Extra photo. Seven eggs were painted by different artists representing different decades of the Queen’s reign. There were seven eggs but I only found 6. In my collage I’ve shown the blue and white egg four times to show all ‘sides’. This egg, titled ‘The Queen and Her Kings’, represents the 2020s and celebrates both the Queen and the three heirs to the throne.

After wandering around Chelsea and having a late lunch, I walked to Buckingham Palace. Because of the preparations for the events over the next few days, the area in front of the palace was blocked off but I could see the grandstands and the ‘Tree of Trees’ that will be lit up tomorrow night. I was able to get onto The Mall via St James Park. There were many people all ready to camp out with their tents in order to get a good spot. See 4th Extra photo. The woman in the top left corner was from Connecticut and she’d flown over for the whole weekend. Writing this a few days later I can say that she was interviewed on BBC Saturday morning, still camping out. I also saw the guy dressed in the Union Jack suit interviewed more than once over the last couple of days.

The Mall was closed to traffic so I was able to walk up the centre towards Admiralty Arch. This is the view of my main blip photo with the huge flags lining the whole Mall. Before going through the arch I visited Horse Guards Parade, the site of tomorrow’s Trooping the Colour.

On the other side of the arch is Trafalgar Square.  I was tired at this point but my goal was to get to Covent Garden so I kept walking. Covent Garden was beautiful with plenty of flags and flowers of their own. See 5th Extra photo.

Although it was still light it was getting late and I decided I wasn’t hungry enough for dinner after my very late lunch in Chelsea. So I made my way back to Paddington on the tube, and was able to get a fast train home. I was exhausted by the time I got home at 10pm and went straight to bed!  I did look to see that I’d walked over 22,000 steps today which apparently is over 11 miles (18 km). No wonder I was tired!!  But what a great day it was!  I must do that more often!  Writing this several days late, I can say that even though I didn’t go up to London during the actual Jubilee, it was great to watch the events knowing I had JUST been there a couple of days before. How blessed I am to live where I do!