Royal Walk

So although my evening has not gone as planned, things are not as they seem, and life lessons have come too many too soon...I had a lovely day. Started my day again in the Palm Court with tea and pastries, read some Jane Austen, and then braved the mist for a walk around Royalty. My 'Mary Poppins' umbrella in hand, I wound my way through Green Park to Buckingham Palace and all the glory it holds. No changing of the guard, but I watched them walk back and forth for awhile, and witnessed a couple Bobbies posing for pictures inside the gate. It's sort of mind-boggling that the Queen's Official Residence is directly in the middle of the city, and that people mill around outside of it all day long. Tourists were plenty, and I found myself bobbing and weaving on the sidewalks to avoid collisions with people and umbrellas - it was like a human frogger match. I decided to walk around the entire compound and even visited the Royal Shop -(A.A., you may be pleased to know that the Queen's tree in the shop of the Palace is decorated quite similarly to yours with red and gold decorations and a bit of silver thrown in too!). If my Palace viewing wasn't exciting enough, I was even lucky enough to experience a bonafide 'Bridget Jones' moment, when a black cabbie sped by my precarious position on the edge of the sidewalk...and I became the landing zone of a spray of dirty water! I was dripping and laughing like an idiot...what a sight.

I came back through Green Park and realized that the last time I was here - I had mistakenly thought it was St. James Park...and they have a Canadian Monument with leaves cut out of the sculpture...it was really cool and said ~In two world wars, one million Canadians came to join the fight for freedom.~

I stopped to dry off at Pret A Manger - basically a lovely cafe with sandwhiches and soups (it appears to be a chain here) - and I tried Carrot and Coriander Soup with a French Baguette. So far, my food excursions have been so much better than anticipated; a great surprise.

So - I'm off to the Hilton London Green Park - just down the road - for a few nights while my accomodations get sorted out...positive energy being sent to the Universe.