Queen's Jubilee!

On June 3, we woke early, dressed, and headed for an early train to London. We were able to get tickets, board the train, and get seats before the train filled up with  merrymakers going to London to see the Regatta celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. What a fun day!

I've always wanted to see St Pancras Cemetery so we walked behind St Pancras Station and easily found the cemetery.

This cemetery was in the way when they built St Pancras Station the graves were moved and placed around this old tree.

Thomas Hardy worked on this project thus the plaque naming the tree as tribute to Hardy's work.

We saw John Soame's grave which has four sides honoring himself, his wife, and his good son. The fourth side is blank, showing his feelings for his second son.

And Burdette Coutt's grave. She was a friend of Dickens

And, for me the most interesting, is the grave of Mary Wollstonecraft. This is the tomb that Mary Godwin Shelley would sit on as a child, perhaps endowing her imagination.

 We walked along the wet streets,  meeting people on their way to the Regatta.

 We hoped to have lunch at Ye Old Chesire Cheese but alas it was closed. We walked a little further and found a pub all decked out for the Regatta. It was called Punch!


 
We had delicious "Coronation Chicken."

We watched Prince Charles and Camilla lunching with the crowd.

Outside, the streets were full of merrymakers!

 Helen would have loved the Learner delivering Domino Pizzas!

 We passed "The Hung Drawn and Quartered" pub named after a sight Pepys describes in his diary.

 We headed toward Tower Tube station

 And met the Drury Bredin family there

 Helen led us to a public viewing spot.  We passed many beautiful boats with people tailgating.

 Lucy spotted her best mate, Molly!

 Helen had brought snacks for all--I enjoyed the custard tarts.

 Here is Jim and his mum.

Helen spotted a Canadian contingent!

I edged up to get closer to the Thames and caught a glimpse of the Regatta

But moved back to join the crowd and missed the real thing ( we later saw this on television)

Soon after the Queen passed, a huge rainstorm happened. We hurriedly made our way to the Tube station.

The Drury family went another way but we could see them across the tracks.

We arrived in Kings Cross just in time for our train, eventually arriving back in Cambridge and quite happy to be home in our cozy apartment. We enjoyed watching the Jubilee Concert on the Telly.