Regardless of your opinions of monarchy, you just gotta admire Queen Elizabeth II. She's classy, she's humble, she's honored. For 60 years she has reigned this land, despite the fact that she never anticipated becoming queen, nor did anyone expect her to. I heard it said by one commentator on the BBC that "because she did not seek the crown, it is all the more reason that she should wear it".
Great displays of patriotism emerged during Kate and William's wedding last year.
But it didn't come close to what we saw this past weekend.
A four day celebration! British flags were everywhere. Lining the streets, in people's windows, in every shop display.
The bigger stores really went all out...
My kids' favorite was Hamley's of course, where they made their display out of LEGOs
The event brought the people of Britain together, really, even those who don't support the idea of the monarchy didn't complain about all the parties and having a four day holiday!!
Here is the official website:
http://www.thediamondjubilee.org/
What sort of adventures did the Larsons have, you ask?
Well we tried to include some very BRITISH things during our weekend, in Her Majesty's honor (it's the best we could do).
Saturday June 2nd - typical day of running around kids to various activities. Meanwhile the main activity inside was the collaborative effort to complete a 1000 piece puzzle for Her Majesty. Dinner was delicious London Indian food (England has fantastic Indian food - it's part of their food culture here, seriously).
Sunday June 3rd - Church service honoring the Queen at our local place of worship. Then on to the streets of London, determined to see the Historic Flotilla. We descended at Pimlico and walked along the Thames towards Chelsea...the crowds were unbelievable. We could hardly see the river, much less get through the crowds. Our kids were frustrated, because they had to struggle even more. Only Dave had a decent view, really... But, alas, we finally did find a little ledge away from the road upon which we thrust ourselves up, and with that boost we did indeed have a view of this amazing production!
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| tons of security and tons of crowds |
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| lucky for the kids, we ran into some of their best friends among the million! |
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| this is Dave's wonderful photography, his arm can extend over the masses |
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| Hooray, we really could see the Royal family...what a sight! |
Monday June 4th, 2012
Our neighborhood had a little sidewalk party! There were six American families and one Indian family celebrating the Queen of this land! We've got fantastic, friendly, fun neighbors and this was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all things British - even when we are not. We even hung a British flag on our door.
In the evening, our family attended the world premiere of Chariots of Fire onstage at the Hampstead Theatre, just down the street.
http://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2012/chariots-of-fire/
I was lucky that I got us these tickets - now it is sold out and heading to the West End! It is a great production...celebrating the story of two amazing British athletes, and the Olympics! Of course the iconic song plays a moving role! Great timing for the launch of this delight!
We dvr'ed the Jubilee concert to watch later. A couple of friends went down and said the atmosphere was crazy down near Buckingham but that you couldn't get very near (tickets were by lottery).
Tuesday June 5th
Perhaps the favorite cultural artifact of the British world for my kids is: Harry Potter. Although there isn't a real connection to the Queen (or is there?), it is arguably the most successful creation to come out of England since Shakespeare, and my kids get it. ASL (school) organized a tour and we got tickets to join in - three coach buses brought us out to the site of the Warner Bros filming studio where it all (well lots of it anyways, we still need to visit the sites in Oxford) happened. Costly, yes, but the kids would argue it was well worth it. We all enjoyed the Butterbeer.
and we'll do an entire post just on the tour...
that will be up next!
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