Day 6 Royal Wedding Fri May 18 London

I'd been thrilled to get "timed tickets" to Kensington Palace on Friday and figured we might see its residents coming or going to Windsor. We didn't but Kate was spotted the day before walking baby Louis and Charlotte in the park, so I had the right idea. These gates gave Laurie pause as she remembered all the flowers piled there when Diana died.

 We never did see anyone but had to be careful taking photos at the private gate here where the family comes and goes from their living quarters.

This was close to the Kensington High Street tube station. But we got to London by retracing our steps from yesterday -- Hotel Hoppa to Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station. Walked from there to, and through, Kensington Gardens. Another glorious May day ... we've been so lucky and the same is forecast for the wedding day tomorrow.

Laurie was charmed by this little Rolls Royce ice cream truck. Have the royal kiddies ever visited it?

I have always loved Peter Pan, so was happy we got to see this statue.

I wore my wedding hat today for a "trial run"  Had a bag to carry it in if I got tired of wearing it, which I did. That worked on Saturday too. I packed the right stuff for this trip -- lots of layers -- and wore most of it, including all four pairs of shoes. We walked a lot!! I wore a different pair each day and carried a spare pair, which I usually had to change into around 4-5p.

Swans, beautiful scenery and birdsong as we proceeded to Diana's Memorial Fountain. You can see its rippling waterfall on the left.

When the park is closed to the public, do the boys come here? Will their children play here?

We walked past lots of people with dogs and children towards Prince Albert's Memorial 

Having watched Victoria on Masterpiece, I think of her having this golden idol of Albert built after he died and feel sadness for her.

Royal Albert Hall, which I'd wanted to see, is right across the street.

As Freddi would say, "scaffolding tour of Europe" since many things are often under scaffolding like this.

Back into the gardens, we head for the Palace, where Laurie wants to show me the sunken garden where Harry and Meghan announced their engagement.

Here is the lovely spot, which was one of today's highlights. But we had to ask a warden where they stood.

Two reasons we didn't figure that out on our own

That was November, so things weren't as in bloom.

 

And two, the Orangerie behind them is now being renovated and therefore covered up by a cafe that wasn't there then. 

To take the photo below, I stood where photographers did that day. The birdbath in the middle of the pond has a heart in it.

Almost time to go inside. In addition to state apartments open to the public, there are 2 exhibits -- Victoria Revealed and Diana: Her Fashion Story.

A papparazzi or television reporter was set up right behind me with a camera, so he must've thought he might spy one of the royal residents here today too. But they were supposed to take Meghan's mom Doria for tea with the Queen and Prince Philip in Windsor and so may have already been on their way there.

Statue of Queen Victoria

Public entrance to Kensington Palace, or KP as they call it.

 At a PEO stop, Laurie wanted me to see the Diana wallpaper she remembered from a previous visit.

I really liked these candle lights on the grand staircase going in. There was so much tromp l'oeil painting here in the palace, all done by the same artist. I couldn't imagine being able to do it all in one lifetime.

This is the card room where Queen Caroline gambled while her guests danced in the ballroom next door. As we heard a talk by an "educator," I noticed the painting rail around the top of the room with chains holding the heavily-framed paintings ... a gallery system.

Here's that ballroom. We saw the room where Victoria was born and where she was christened.

This gallery is much like St. George's Hall at Windsor Castle, only about half the size of it.

Here's a look out the window

And here, entering the Victoria Revealed exhibit is a silhouette of Lord M

These two coats reminded me of the ones Albert and Ernst wore

 The gold braid was unbelievably heavy!

Sorry I don't have more photos of the Victoria exhibit -- which covered her life birth through death. Felt very close to her and Albert and their family. Below are pillows Laurie remembered from her previous visit -- with very cleverly stitched portraits of KP residents.

I ended up in tears during the Diana exhibit. Due to slides that showed how much her boys have carried on in her footsteps with their charitable work these last twenty years...

...in sadness that she never had Charles' love, thought of her own wedding day as the worst of her life, and didn't get to see her sons grow up and marry for love themselves...

and teared up unexpectedly again when I saw a particular purple dress that she'd worn in Chicago marked as "on loan from the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Henry of Wales."

Even though we didn't go to Althorp, this was the Diana pilgrimage Laurie and I had always talked about making. Her presence was palpable during the entire wedding on Saturday and I kept thinking it was her happiest day.

I got to eat a piece of the wedding cake (elderflower and lemon) in the tea room before we left for Selfridge's -- it was delicious!

Prompted by liking the show Mr. Selfridge, and the fact that the wedding florist displayed and sold in the store, we took the tube from Kensington High Street to Bond Street.

 I had forgotten about the clock above the front door until Laurie reminded me of it.

 Here is the florist's display in Selfridge's. Weren't the wedding flowers beautiful?

 I loved that Harry had picked flowers for Meghan's bouquet from their own garden, including his mother's forget me nots. But those floral bowers at St. George's were spectacular. Way to go, Philippa Craddock!

And here is Laurie in front of a window displaying holograms -- always an innovator, it seemed like Mr. Selfridge would approve of that.

We ate supper at a pub inside the store before hiking back through Hyde Park to Paddington Station and home via the good ol' Express train. Little did we know that the princes had done their "walkabout" on the Windsor High Street and that a woman who looked a lot like me had been photographed with them and so many friends thought it was me. I wish!

I'd tried to talk Laurie into going to Cowarth Park near Ascot where the boys were supposed to be spending the night, in case we might see them. But we decided to get a good night's sleep in order to get breakfast at 7a and head out for the wedding.

I wished I'd gotten to see Ascot. And Windsor Race Course. Apparently Prince Philip was spotted at the races briefly last Sunday and he's supposed to attend the wedding.  With the crowds we're seeing on TV, we decide to take an Uber from the hotel to Windsor Farm Store in the morning. That is where all the invited guests are supposed to arrive between 8 and 10a to be bussed up to the Round Tower. I think our best spot for the wedding is going to be on the Long Walk, which we scoped out on Tuesday while visiting the Castle. 

 This is the Cambridge Gate, the closest a commoner can get to the castle from the Long Walk. We already know we can't get any view of St. George's and Windsor High Street is already packed densely with people.

 Here's where we saw them assembling a big screen TV on Tuesday along the Long Walk. This was before they put barriers up in front of the road the carriage will be on.

It looks so different here than it did Saturday with double barriers next to the road and a bobby stationed every few feet. But kudos for security: no one got hurt to my knowledge.