This was by far the most incredible walk I have done this semester. It was surprisingly easy to navigate, and we managed to follow the entire route by following Trooping the Colour. Which means, of course, that we got to see the entire royal family!!! :) Seeing the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Will and Kate, and the rest of the royals....it was absolutely surreal. I cannot believe how amazing this day has been, and I would not have wanted to end the walks class any other way.
There are plenty more where this came from, btw. :) But this was the best one.
We did this walk starting at Westminster and worked our way backwards. I loved seeing all of this familiar area, especially since we had just finished a spectacular tour of Parliament. We wandered St. James square, and that is where we noticed the large parade was just starting to leave from the celebration for the Queen's birthday. We decided to follow it, as it conveniently followed the route of our walk. We also saw the Royal Bird Park, and it had some really crazy birds. There is also a small chalet for the Royal Bird Keeper to live in, if they choose to do so. We then got to see the royal guards on horse and with arms as they followed behind the Queen. After watching them for a short while, we noticed that everyone was beginning to make their way towards Buckingham. I overheard a lady say, "We need to get to the balcony," and then I realized that the Queen would come out onto the balcony. We took off, weaving through the crowd as quickly as possible. We managed to make it to about the fifth row in front of Buckingham, and we chose to stay clear of the front gate so that it would not block our view. It turned out to be the best spot to see everything. We saw all of the Royal Family, and then the fly-by occurred. The final planes shot out red, blue, and white smoke. It was so awesome. The Queen waved to me, and I waved back. It was a moment I will never forget.

We then made our way through the masses, past the reporters, and then into Green Park. It was beautiful, but I was most excited to see the Wellington Arch. It was rather magnificent, even though it pales in comparison to other European arches in size. We saw the Hard Rock Cafe of London, the one that started it all. We also saw a rather large protest against the rape of prostitutes. Then we crossed into Hyde Park, and it was wonderful and familiar. I have wandered it on my own several times, and so I really enjoyed knowing my way around. We ended, of course, in good ole' Kensington. It really feels like home to me.
What an incredible walk! This one was, hands down, my favorite. Because what else can compete with the Queen?