Tuesday (Venice):
We were all really glad to finally be at the last stop of our Italian Spring Break adventure, because we were exhausted. Walking EVERYWHERE is tiring in itself, but just traveling to all these different places has been a killer! And this is why we decided to take it easy today and spend the day on the beach!!!
Luckily the weather cooperated, which was great because I had checked the weather earlier in the week and it had said it was going to rain. But it was actually the nicest day of the trip so far! We took a water bus to get to the beach. It was really neat how much water surrounded us, and we had to take a boat to the beach we were going. And actually the best part about the ride there was that we didn't have to pay!!! I mean, we were supposed to, and we tried to, but no one would take our money. So sad...
The beautiful beach!
But anyway, once we arrived we had the best time!! We got there around noon and since it wasn't yet the tourist season (and it was also a Tuesday) there were hardly any people on the beach. It was warm enough so that we could actually swim in the water. This was a nice change from a few weeks ago at Brighton, when the water was freezing. And we also spent a good part of the time laying on the beach just soaking in the sun. Although I did take a break from this to bury Anna in the sand. Needless to say there was sand everywhere and because we were out in the sun all day we got sunburned. Mine wasn't too bad, but now I've just been itchy for days. Whatever, it was still a really good day.
Anna got sunburned :(
Once we ate our obligatory pizza for the day, we made our way back to our hostel. But this time we actually had to pay for the water bus, and this was not fun because it was expensive!! So I'm kind of glad that we didn't have to pay the first time and that we hadn't taken too much public transport because that would have broke the bank! But once back at our hostel we were pretty much done for the night. Anna got a terrible sunburn (she was so red!!), so we chilled in our room until bed.
Wednesday (Venice, London):
Today was again mostly spent walking around to the various markets in Venice. We took a lot of small back streets and found tons of really cute little stores to shop around in. Then after a bunch of walking we came across a bigger market that sold tons of different kinds of food: fish, vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices and so on. We hadn't had a lot of fruit lately (with all of the pizza) so we decided to get some strawberries and eat by the water. They were suuuuper fresh and so delicious! I hadn't had strawberries in forever and it was really nice to take a break near the water.
Sights in Venice
Afterwards, we visited the Bridge of Sighs and we also really wanted to take a gondola ride on the canal waters underneath the bridge. So we got a gondolier to take us on a short ride in the waters nearby. It was really fun, and something you can really only do in Venice. When we passed important sights, our gondolier would give us some fun facts about the things we were seeing. It was really fun and relaxing on the boat. Although our gondolier apparently had some important business to attend to because he kept answering his cell phone!
The Bride of Sighs
But basically this was the extent of our day, and later on we had to catch a plane back to London to make it back in time for the Royal Wedding!!!! The flight itself was terrible...it was RyanAir again, so what else can you expect. But once we got back to London we still had an hour and a half coach ride back to Vandon House. So it was a really long ride when all we wanted was to be home in our nice, warm, clean beds. But eventually we made it!
Thursday (London):
So we were really tired after all the traveling it took to get home last night, but this morning a bunch of people in our program went out to Buckingham Palace to see all the people gathered there. I came out awhile later and apparently a ton of stuff was happening even before the wedding started. Some of the girls in our group chatted with Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer from the Today Show in between their broadcasts.
A bunch of us had planned to camp out the day before the wedding to make sure that we got a good spot to see all the processions. And some people wrote out signs such as 'Iowa hearts Will & Kate' and 'Don't worry Harry is still single', so we actually attracted a bunch of attention. People kept coming over and interviewing us and taking really random pictures. It was a little weird but hilarious at the same time.
Getting interviewed...
And from our vantage point near Clarence House, there were quite a few Royal sightings! I didn't personally get to see much, but there are people in our group who have amazing pictures of the Royal celebrities. Before I had arrived at the campsite, Camila, Prince Charles's wife had been walking around and actually stood on out campsite blanket!!!
We also got to see a lot of wedding attendees driving in and out of Clarence House on their way to dinner. And this was pretty cool, except we didn't really know exactly how was driving past. Another person we got to see was David Cameron, the Prime Minister of England walking down the street toward us. And a couple of people got to shake his had, which is pretty cool since hes like the 'president' of England.
But the hands down coolest thing that happened before the wedding was that Prince William and Harry came out of Clarence House and visited with the people camping out on the streets!!!!! And again people from out group got to shake their hands and visit with them! It was crazy, most people who live in London their whole lives never get that close to them!!! And all of this happened before the actual day of the wedding!!
But after awhile the excitement and entertainment lessened when we remembered that we were camping out. On the street. All night. Not really my idea of fun, especially since it was cold. But honestly, this was a once in a lifetime chance, so I knew I had to do it. But I'm going to be honest. It wasn't the best night sleep I have ever had. Although it was an interesting bonding experience for most of the people in our program...
But the next morning we were up bright and early in our amazing spot on the Mall. This wasn't because we wanted to be up bright and early, but people were encroaching on our spot like vultures. Not classy and we were not happy about it. And it wasn't like it was teenagers either. These were full grown women ready to kick us out of our spot!!! I mean, who does that.
But besides the extremely rude people behind us we had a great (but tiring) day. Here is the breakdown of our Royal Wedding experience:
700 AM: This is around the time that we got up and we had to wait (standing, the whole time) until the next event on the line up. We did get to see some things, such as cleaning crews and military bands. But they were only so interesting...
One of the many military bands
Guards setting up along the mall
The princes driving past
1010 - 1051 AM: We watched tons of cars drive past delivering wedding guests to Westminster Abbey. Some memorable sightings included Prince Charles and Camila and the Queen and Prince Philip. The Queen was so cute in her pastel lemon outfit and I actually got a decent picture of her driving past!!! We were pretty pumped when this happened but...
The Queen!!!!
1051 AM: Then Kate drove by in her wedding dress!!!!!! It was so exciting when this happened!! And then we knew it was so close to the actual event! And she looked so pretty!!
Kate!
1100 AM: The wedding officially began! I hadn't thought that it was going to be interesting for us along the parade route during the wedding, but luckily I was wrong because they broad casted the ceremony live from speakers along the route! It was so sweet, and nice to hear Kate's voice for the first time.
1215 - 1240 AM: Royals drive past us on the Mall on their way to Buckingham Palace. This includes William and Kate, the Queen and Prince Philip and other princes and princesses. But seeing Will and Kate in the carriage was definitely one of my favorite moments of the experience. They looked so happy!
The bride and groom
The Queen again!
125 PM: Will and Kate step out onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace, with many of the members of the Wedding Party. To get to be able to see this, we had to walk in a crowd of thousands upon thousands of people led by police. It was a crazy experience. I have never (and don't really want to be again), been in a crowd of that many people! But we did get to see them kiss!! And by standing on my tippy toes, I got some blurry pictures of them (people would not stop waving their flags!). It was amazing.
The wedding party!
But just like that it was over. Except of course for the 30 minutes it took us to get out of the crowd and back to Vandon House, which usually only takes like 5 - 10 minutes. And as you can probably imagine, I was exhausted. So after a quick shower, I took a 'nap', which in reality meant I slept 4 hours until dinner. It was glorious and I am so glad that I camped out because we really did have an amazing view of all the goings on of the wedding.
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