The Twelfth Day: Little Venice and Kensington Gardens (again)

So today was supposed to be a low key day: meet in the morning for a river boat cruise to Camden Market and then we were on our own until the evening. We were told to be at Little Venice at 10:45 to get on our group's boat, so being the prepared people we are, the half of the group Amanda, Megan, and I were in left at 10. Plenty of time, right?

No. The line we take for the Underground was down, we were delayed about 10 minutes at a stop, and had to go all over London to get a round-about way to end up at Little Venice. Did it end when we got off the Underground? No. We got turned around walking to the dock and had to sprint to make the boat on time. WE were lucky though. The other half of our group got off a stop too soon and ran even further than we did to literally jump down the steps and then leap onto the boat. Greg was laughing at us and everyone else was miffed because we caused a minor hold up. Whatever; I feel like a lot of people have their underpants in a twist here, so it did them some good to learn a bit of patience.

The cruise once we got going was very very pretty. The boat was almost level with the water so it was cool to see things from a different perspective. Some of the largest and wealthiest private homes are along the river, too, so we were able to see those and pick out which one we would have if wishes were dishes. The picture below is the one I liked the best.




After we made it to Camden, a bunch of girls and I got lunch at one of the many stands and then decided to make use of the phenomenal weather and head over to Kensington Gardens. It was about 80 today, so we all put on our lightest cloths, grabbed our books, and headed to the park. It was packed! Everyone was out with the same idea in mind that we had. We sat next to these two little boys and their terrier puppy, and they were adorable to watch. That poor dog; he kept getting the ball and you could tell he was exhausted but the kids were not giving him a break. Too cute.

We spent about 2 hours in the park and then headed back to the flat to get cleaned up for the London Symphony Orchestra! Everyone looked good and we had a lot of fun taking pictures before hand... Pictures I didn't get because I was lazy and didn't want to carry my camera with me. Fret not, however, because I plan on stealing some from people who DID get them, and I'll post those later. The Symphony was good; they're obviously extremely talented, but it was about a 2 1/2 hour concert, so it got a bit long at times. Greg, though, got us through the second half by getting us excited because he had some news for us...

We get to see the Queen on Tuesday!!! She officially opens Parliament that day, and we're scheduled to have an "In's and Out's of Parliament" tour that day, so we're going to go to the parade where she walks down the boulevard and then again when she goes into the House of Commons. Everyone is super excited for this, but the girls especially. We're all crossing our fingers (and toes) that the Princes accompany the Queen on this particular exhibition, and that we might be able to see them. Ha! That'd be a treat.