The Royal and the Rain

{Buckingham Palace}

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Buckingham Palace.  We intended on seeing the changing of the guard but got there too late for a good viewing spot. (We were all out late Friday night. We had a wonderful time at a local pub, and I had my first negroni* which was delicious.) I’m going to go back to actually see the changing of the guard. We did however tour the Royal Mews and the state rooms in the palace.  Everything was gorgeous and I got to see Duchess Catherine’s wedding dress, which was even more beautiful in person.  Unfortunately pictures were not allowed inside the palace so you will just have to make the trip yourselves to see it.  I also went to the Thames festival, but unfortunately it was raining when I got there and it is hard to walk in a crowd with an umbrella.  There was a market, I got a present for one of my best friends, and I ate a Venezuelan cornbread sandwich, an arepa. Albeit the rain, we managed to have a good time.  There was a parade as well that I can only describe as being a mix of the Mummers parade and Mardi Gras.  It was extremely fun and festival, I hope everyone had just a good weekend.

{Little girl admiring a coach at the Royal Mews}

{The Coach William and Kate rode in at their wedding}

{The Gold State Coach}

{Unbelievable in person. It takes 8 horses to pull it and even then it only moves at walking pace}

{Me in front of Buckingham Palace}

{The Royal Gardens at the Palace}

{The London Eye}

{Big Ben}

{A stall at the festival market}

{This is only a small portion of the large amount of beautiful graffiti under a bridge that ran along the festival}

{Hair pieces at the market}

{Venezuelan arepas}

{Thames river at night}

{Festival Carnival (parade)}

{Dancers in the carnival}

{Shot of the Thames at night. Picture courtesy of Alex}

*Words of the wise, don’t order this unless you can take strong drinks.