Frans and Sarah take London: Trooping the Colour

Yesterday we joined the masses to see the Queen and members of the Royal Guard make their way down the Mall in Central London for the annual Trooping the Colour. This marks the official birthday of the Queen (her actual birthday was in April) and takes the form of a selection of regiments of the army parading down The Mall and in Horse Guards Parade Ground near Buckingham Palace. It was a spectacular display with many brass bands, horses and troops on foot. There were thousands of spectators straining to catch a ~~glimpse~~ photo of the event. After doing some flag waving, Queen spotting and crowd manoeuvring, we had a very enjoyable day being shown around central London by my two friends from school, Elyse and Chloe. We were taken to a special bar in a crypt near Embankment station called Gordon's wine bar. From there we made our way across the river and while we were at a second-hand book sale under a bridge, we almost missed the fly over where some rather large aeroplanes fly in formation for the Trooping of the Colour ceremony. From there we meandered slowly eastwards with Spitalfields Market our ultimate goal. But along the way we stopped off at South Bank market for some delicious lunch, spotted some people scratching through the stones on the beaches of the Thames, then crossed The Millennium Bridge, picking up a cup of aromatic caramel roasted nuts along the way. We eventually did get to Spitalfields (which is just around the corner from where Frans works) but were so exhausted we couldn't actually give the amazing market the attention it deserved so instead we sat down and had a much-needed cup of tea instead.