So we booked immediately, because the cheapest time to get a hotel room is a full year in advance - they basically have full capacity. We decided we'd decide what else we'd do nearer the time.
We have a favourite hotel in London - it's County Hall. It's so close to the London Eye that the booking office is adjoined to the restaurant of the hotel. It's a fantastic spot - right by the Thames and in the centre of everything. With Westminster about a 5 minute walk.
Then the queen died, and then Charles decided that he was going to have his Coronation on the same weekend that we were going to be in London. What's more the whole thing was going to take place at Westminster Abbey - about 5 minutes walk away from our hotel!
I've mentioned before that I'm not a royalist, I really had no interest in the Coronation, but it was husband's significant birthday and nothing was going to get in the way. So I spent a bit of time pre-booking restaurants and - since we'd decided our location for 6th was going to be Grenwich I booked us a boat trip. Anticipating huge queues for tickets and a full boat.
Because the area I live in is rubbish with trains - particularly on a Sunday we decided to drive to Redhill, where we parked in a Sainsbury's for 3 days. It was a bargain at £15!!! - you'd get about 4 hours for that in Brighton.
The train station was a short walk away. This is when we discovered that Redhill didn't have a direct line to Waterloo (sigh) we also leapt on the first train - an agonising journey because it stopped at every single stop to London Bridge. But eventually we got there and checked into hotel.
We'd booked a supper at Ping Pong - which I'd not been to before. It turned out to be a great choice - the food was yummy and there was a real buzz there.
After supper I suggested we walked to Trafalgar Square to see what was going on. This was a terrible mistake. The whole area had barriers up and the number of people was something I'd not seen before - even in London. We basically got herded with everybody else - what was worse was that all we needed to do was take a right to walk out of the chaos and just go back to the hotel.
But everything on the right was barriered off with Security Guards stopping you from going that way. We basically walked for an hour trying to find a right - then suddenly there were people camping on the pavements - eating pizza and having a very jolly time - it was at this point we came to a dead end. As a result of this we had to simply turn around and go back the hour long way we had just walked.
I have to say many of the tents we passed smelt terribly of wee - I think everybody must have been weeing into bottles or something (yuck!).
Anyway, teenage son was literally spitting with fury about the whole situation. Needless to say I was not the flavour of the month for making the suggestion that we went to Trafalgar Square!
We all felt quite shattered, the way that any sort of travelling tends to leave you. So we crashed pretty early on the Friday.
On Saturday I woke up at about 5.00am - the rest of the family were asleep so I got dressed and went downstairs to grab a coffee. Wandering outside the area was absolutely insane. Security guards everywhere, Soldiers and Police. In the image you can see that there were some serious conversations going on with a Mr Whippy van!
Turns out that about 100m from the hotel is where all the military involved with the march were gathering prior to going over Westminster Bridge. I went over to the Thames to watch the march for a while and then thought 'son can't miss this'. So I belted back to the hotel and woke him up. We watched for ages. We were really too far away to see too much - but close enough to feel the buzz and hear the music as they marched over Westminster Bridge.
Once husband woke up we went to breakfast and then got ready for our boat trip to Grenwich. Turns out I was very wrong about the business of the boat. We got on it about 15 minutes before the Coronation. There were literally about 4 other people on the boat.
Once we got to Grenwich we wandered up to the Observatory. My goodness it was VERY VERY dull. Very little to see, but I'd also booked us into the Planetarium where we watched something about the sky at night. Problem was we were in these reclined seats and the lights were low and the scientist talking to us had a very soothing voice......................
Next thing you know husband was nudging me because I'd started snoring! I could happily have spent the rest of the day in that room!
After that we whizzed back to the boat. The whole day had been raining - I mean really really raining, but the rain had switched to a slight drizzle. So we sat on deck in our raincoats...
On the subject of raincoats - I purchased one in preparation. Lightweight and waterproof - less of a coat and more of a poncho from head to toe. Husband hated it - he said I looked like professor McGonigal - I was quite chuffed with that!
Anyway My raincoat was so huge I could spread it out and we were all able to sit on it and keep our backsides dry. The boat trip was much better outside - so much cool stuff to see like Tower Bridge etc.
Once we got back we got ready to go out and went to Dishoom in Covent Garden - this was on a recommendation from a close friend. Fortunately the Coronation was now over and so we didn't have the same issues with our journey. Thank goodness we booked Dishoom. When we got there there was a queue of about 30 people. We were able to go straight to the front of the queue because we booked.
The food was amazing - and I can't believe how popular it was - whilst they turned over tables rapidly that queue outside just kept getting added to.
After supper we went back to the hotel and opened a bottle of Champagne - oh and played some Exploding Kittens (card game in case you haven't heard of it).
Then sleep......
Waking early again the next morning I got my coffee and went out side. What a difference. And here is picture 2....
I admit it's not a great picture - it was moving very fast. But instead of security, soldiers and policemen there was literally nobody around. Then the scrawniest fox I've ever seen ran past me with a fat rat in it's mouth.
What a difference a day makes :).
After breakfast we headed off to the British Museum. Now this is my idea of hell and I wanted husband and son to enjoy it - so I left them at the gate and wandered off. I went to 2 coffee shops and got very bored - then the sun came out so I went for a wander.
In the end I found a church with some steps and sat on the steps in the sun until husband and son came out of the museum.
Then it was time to come home. I suggested we took the train to Clapham and then went to Redhill from there. What a mistake. We got to Clapham and it was a connecting bus to East Croydon - from where we could catch a train.
We waited for 20 minutes for a bus and then when it did turn up it turned out the journey to East Croydon was going to take over an hour. None of us were in the mood for this so we made our way back to Clapham and went back to Waterloo.
By now I was desperate for a wee - we spent about 20 mins in Waterloo trying to find them. Turns out the new design of Waterloo has them in the most ridiculous place. There simply wasn't time to go. So we wandered to Waterloo East and from there went to London Bridge and then caught a fast train to Redhill.
Once at Redhill I eventually had my wee - oh the bliss!!!!! I have to admit I behaved horribly throughout this whole period. I feel very guilty.
Once home we opened Champagne and I made a birthday supper. We sat down at about 20:00 to eat. Then son got ready for bed and husband and I stayed up watching films.
I say stayed up - I actually fell asleep clutching my glass of Champagne. Which I promptly dropped and broke and poor husband had to clean it up!!!!
So anyway, that was my weekend away. Today I'm basically unpacking and clearing up the chaos.
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