Views from my semester abroad. Looks as though I have one more London post! On June third, Hayley, her sister Blair, and I went to the British museum and got a tasty lunch at a little cafe called Apricot. Afterwards we headed to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee boat parade! We met up with our friend Amanda and walked to the river, where we joined a massive crowd trying to get onto one of the brides overlooking the Thames. After much waiting (and joking around with the security personnel) we made out out onto the bridge, where we had stunning views of the parade of boats as they passed below. It was amazing to see how many people came out for the celebration and how excited everyone was!
About a half hour after we made it to the bridge it started to pour buckets! We ended up running to the Southbank Center, where we took refuge and got to watch the rest of the parade broadcast on a projector. The end of the celebration was the most amazing thing; everyone stood up and sang the national anthem together while cheering, hugging, and crying. I'll never forget how powerful the feeling of national pride and unity there was in that moment. Even as an American who didn't know the words and didn't grow up with a monarchy, I still teared up a little at the end!
