Went down to London on an overnight train and arrived at a very early 6.30am. Unknown to me (till that morning) the Queen was gonna leave her palace to give her speech at the State Opening of Parliament. Cool!
After dropping off our bags, we headed to Buckingham Palace.
The road that lead to the palace was lined with the Queen's guards, in their winter uniform, not the usual red. Kinda pitied them cause there was a bit of rain initially, so they had to stand super still, all cold and wet.
She was supposed to come out at 11am, after some pictures and guessing which side of the carriage she'd be sitting on (we asked a police man for advice and he told us the side he saw her sitting last year, so we went with that), we took our places and waited.
Not having time to go online to read up about what exactly was happening, all I knew was she was coming out in her golden carriage, something that only happens 2 or 3 times a year. Lucky me!
Thank goodness VIP's here are not like the ones in good ol' Boleh-land, and right on the dot, the procession started from the palace gates.
As my Aunty Liz put it, the Brits really know how to put on a show, and no where else in the world can you find such pomp and ceremony.
Was a real treat, there was easily 200 of those black horses, trotting by in batches, then the absolutely beautiful carriages, with the coachmen in their uniforms - it was like something from a history book.
That's all it is though really, keeping up with tradition.
A chatty lady next to my aunt told us about the 21-gun Salute that was to happen in Green Park, just across the road from where we were, and as soon a barrier opened up, we nipped across to check it out.
Call me ignorant but I thought its was gonna be guns going off, not cannons, and boy were they loud!
Amazingly, the horses that were nearby didn't flinch, move or even bother with the loud bangs... Makes me wonder if they're wearing ear plugs, or just freakin' well trained.
Even more impressive, as soon as it was over, all those horses you see behind me, went over to collect the cannons back onto their carts, and off they went. Quick as lightning. Was packed up in a flash!
Just as we were about to leave, we found out that the whole procession would be back in an hour. "An hour?", I thought, "That can't be right, how can that whole jing-bang get to the Houses of Parliament, get in, make her speech, then get back into the load of carriages and back to Buckingham Palace in an hour? Cannot be lah..."
Since it was only bout 15minutes till the hour, we thought might as well stick around, and sure enough - less than 5minutes after 12 the whole lot came back. This time I got to see them clearly (without taking any photos) and I guess she was happy she'd got that job done cause the Queen was waving out at everyone, smiling.
Yay! I managed to see the stereotypical image of Her Royal Highness, sitting in her gorgeous carriage, waving out at the people!
I suspect as soon as she got home, she put her feet up and had a nice cuppa tea.
8 comments:
Hey Shelby. Great to see you having so much fun in Britain. Yes, I still read your blog entries, and they are very enjoyable to read. Then again, the video does not work. Is there a problem with them?
Hiya Siang Yen, how you doing?
Hmmm, i tried playing them and they work ok, maybe they got stuck Buffering? Try tefreshing the page.
Lemme know if they still dont play, and i'll re-upload them.
Yes, the English seems to be obsessed with ... STYLE.
;-/
hehe. the vids seem to be ok!!! i like the part when the Q passes and u guys go 'the queeeeeen.... the queeeeeen....'.
typical m'sian ulu!!!! lol!!!
AS: the English are obsessed with style? well, u seemed obsessed with something else!!! or someone else?
ObiMun: Hehehe, actually those were Brits you heard, not me! But i don't think that reaction is ulu, more like excitement. Its not everyday you get to see the queen!
I'd do it too if it was someone relevant that i was interested in.
Like if Oprah, Celine Dion or Hugh Jackman walked by...
=)
yes, i'm obsessed with other people's style ... especially female style.
so, i like to notice style, and style in other people, especiallu women ...
style, elegance, finesse etc. etc.
;-/
i'm also obsessed with the way people laugh on blogs.
hahahahaha or kekekekeke or kikikikiki, etc. etc. etc.
;-/
hahaha ... Just checked your websites. Didn't realise it was you, Mun Onn. Totally unexpected ... well, yes, we have lived in the UK, and we know that the English are obsessed with style. ;-)
See you in church!
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