Happy New Year! Since the parade did not start until noon, we slept in until 8:00. When we got up, we saw a message that the band was going very early to Westminster to be on the BBC. We missed seeing them live, but luckily a friend recorded it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4bhcr-34lQ. We got ourselves ready and got to Westminster about an hour and a half before the parade started. We made our way to Regent Street where our grandstand seats were. We got more pictures of the city along the way.
The end of the parade route about an hour before the parade started.
10 Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives.
The Horse Guards
The parade route up Whitehall.
The parade route by Trafalgar Square.
We met up with some friends that were sitting next to us in the grandstands. We visited with them and took our seats for the parade. The host guy was funny. He was walking around talking to people, dancing to the music, and acting silly. At this point, it was not raining. Here are some pictures of the parade before the band came along.
About an hour after the parade started, it started pouring down the rain. The poor kids were marching in the cold rain, but they seemed to be in good spirits. After they passed our grandstand, Tracey and I followed the band all the way to the end of the parade taking pictures and video. We shared all our pictures on the JCHS Band Boosters Facebook page (
https://www.facebook.com/James-Clemens-High-School-Band-Boosters-554238777960211/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1398861026831311). Here are a few of my favorites.
After the parade, we were waiting for the band to walk in front of Big
Ben like the groups in front of them did. I was ready to get all their
pictures with Big Ben and Parliament in the background, but they turned
right and started walking back to their busses. I was disappointed, but I
knew they were cold and wanted to get inside quickly. This picture is the end of the parade just after the grand finale performance area.
We took the tube over to Covent Garden. The market there is really neat
with all kinds of cool shops. We walked around for a while, then finally
found a place to eat with some real British food. We got meat pies and
mash.
We walked around some more and came across the Seven Dials of
London, a neat place where seven streets intersect. There were a lot of
theaters in this area, including one that was showing the new Harry
Potter and the Cursed Child. We walked through Chinatown and then
eventually made our way back to the hotel.
The Lego store.
We stopped at a McDonald's for a drink and saw they had touch screens for ordering. The wave of the future?
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