Queens Jubilee Weekend in London

The Queens Diamond Jubilee (60 yrs) weekend in London

A trip to London and a visit to Harrods

Church at Westminster Cathedral (still a work in progress after a few centuries)

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye

On the Thames for the Queen's Jubilee flotilla (Sunday).  We wandered near Parliament and ended up in Victoria Park to (try to) watch the flotilla.  The weather was cool (high ~ 50F) with accompanying drizzle.  The crowd was estimated to be 1.2 million despite the weather.  The challenge was that the Thames was lower than the bank, which only left about three deep to get any kind of view.  Lori wormed her way up to stand on a bench to get a view, Megan and I watched through periscopes.  Below, a civil crowd hours before the start.

The flotilla is a tradition that goes back centuries.  The flotilla starts with manually powered boats.  Because of the many bridges over the river, the boat heights were limited.

The Queen's Barge (yes, the official term) comes into view.  This is probably the closest we got to her all week. 

In the royal boot (cream-colored section, upper deck), the Queen is in white with Price Philip standing next to her in full uniform. Don't know if the weather contributed, but he went to the hospital that night with a bladder infection.    

The crowd whipped into a frenzy after hours of waiting.  Note the periscopes

The Hillstroms after a long day on the river...  The wardrobe required for London is very easy... We've worn the same clothes, hats, and gloves, in February, April, and now June.   

The next day at Westminster Abbey tour.  No pics allowed inside but this is from the inner courtyard

The sun actually came out for a short while Monday proving it can be done. Westminster Abbey with the Goodyear blimp in the background.

The tube is very handy.  Lori and I got Oyster Cards which you swipe to enter/exit the stations which makes you feel like a local.  The tubes were packed after most of the events, so much so that they had to close off some of the stations.  You just have to muscle your way on.  

Coming off the tube at Picadilly Circus heading downtown for the Queens parade (Tuesday)

Countdown for the Olympics at Trafalgar Square - crowd was sparse when we got there

Crowd starting to fill up the square.  At one point, we thought we wanted to go to the mall to see the procession... on the way there, we were met by a sea of people coming at us.  When we turned the corner, a large sign indicated that the mall was full, and they had blocked the entrances (crowd estimated at 1.5 million).  We turned around and went back to Trafalgar Square... we lost a little seat quality but they had a great big screen and entertainment. 

Mayor of London 

The Queen passed ~ 100 yards away, but we never got an actual glimpse.. here's the pic from the big screen

The flyover heading toward Buckingham Palace - a Lancaster and some spitfires

  The Red Arrows

The mall was full..... 

Wimbledon

Wimbledon

While in London for the Queen's Jubilee with Megan, we took a tour of Wimbledon which was on our list to see.  It's out of central London, so a little off the beaten path, but a short tube ride from where we were staying. The tour was fantastic, one of the highlights of the weekend.  The Olympic tennis matches will be played at Wimbledon three weeks after the tourney this year.  Lot's of fretting about growing grass back, replanting all the flowers and changing the clocks and colors (new sponsors).

Lori and Megan eating lunch outside the Southfield tube station

Players entrance

Purple and white flowers planted for the tourney later in the month

One of the outside courts.. not much seating 

Court 1.. according to the tour guide, the two biggest issues keeping the courts in shape are 1) pigeons eating the grass seed and 2) local foxes.  We never did figure out how the foxes get in and what they actually do.

Dad and Megan outside court 1

Tim and Lori 

My best attempt at trying to get a close up of the grass.. not quite as fine as a golf green 

A plaque by Court 18 commemorating the longest match played a couple of years ago

At the interview table

 A few of the outside courts, with court 3 stadium in the Right Hand corner of the picture.  There are 18 courts, court 1-12; 14-18, and center court. (No court # 13)

Center court... feels smaller than it looks like on tv, but bigger in the pictures.

Center court has a new retractable roof so they can play the finals without rain delays (not that rain is an issue here)

 Megan at center court

 The big board, with last year's results still up.

Chatsworth

Chatsworth

Chatsworth House is a about 25 miles from Derby near Bakewell and is the home of the Duke of Devonshire.  It's been home to the Cavendish family, since Bess of Hardwick settled at Chatsworth in 1549. It's also where they filmed scenes from the movie Pride and Prejudice 

The castle is really nice, better decorated than most of the other buildings that we've toured. Nice wall and ceiling paintings in the foyer.   The carriage was used to bring the Cavendish family from Chatsworth down to London the the Queen's coronation in 1952. 

The Dukes' dining room

 We liked the Lion sculputres

Some beautiful gardens

One of the unique features of the land/castle is that they use lake water from the hill above as a pressurized water source for all the fountains and streams. 

The river Derwent is a little high with all the rain.  This river runs down through Derby.