For me, it was just the right place to be, away from the insane crowds downtown (people camped out for days!) but amid a lot of friendly, neighborly fun. People brought tables and food and children and balloons, watching the event on TVs set up outside. The champagne started flowing around 11 a.m., when the wedding started, and the party was still going ever stronger when I left at 5 p.m.
The party was far from being a "royalist" event - it was more just a chance to have a good time outdoors on this year's bonus public holiday. (Because yes, everyone got off work for the wedding.) That's not to say people didn't have fun with the royal wedding theme, though! There were men in wedding dresses, masks of the royal family members' faces, cupcakes with William and Kate on them. The few shops and cafés on the street stayed open and did VERY brisk business - the wine shop actually ran out of white wine completely by afternoon, and there was a line just to get into the corner shop.
In between, I wandered around the neighborhood and over to London Fields, where I watched a team of cricket players practicing on the lawn in their delightfully absurd white uniforms and shin guards. I even managed to get hit by a stray cricket ball, which made my time in England feel complete.
That night there was another wedding-themed party, and the next day was the Dutch queen mum's birthday, so all in all it was a very royal weekend. I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
 |
| Albion Part Two: A Very Royal Weekend |
Anne, who I stayed with the last two nights in London, kept wishing everyone a "happy royal wedding day" - even after midnight on Friday, at which point she simply switched to "happy royal wedding weekend!" It was even the last thing she called after me as I left her apartment on Sunday, to catch my flight back to Berlin.
No comments:
Post a Comment