The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

The Adventure Continues...

Well, the Internet Caf� closed early yesterday so by the time I made my way back to the city at 6:00 p.m. they were closing. That meant no report for yesterday so today's may be rather long.

Saturday, June 1st, I made up my mind not to leave the city until Wednesday so I could really absorb all that is going on. I walked around the Mall, walked through the Parks and watched the practice of Trooping the Colour. Then I stopped and ate lunch outside. After lunch I wrote out and stamped 25 more post cards and walked to the Post Office to mail them. Then I napped for about an hour at the bed and breakfast before grabbing a quick sandwich and heading back to the mall at 5:00 p.m. There I met a great couple now living in Wales though Linda was from Scotland and her husband was originally from England. Linda's parents were lucky enough to have their names pulled out of the lottery drawing so while we were "roughing" it outside the Palace with our picnic baskets and blankets, they were inside sitting on comfortable chairs for the first ever concert in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. They received a hamper full of goodies upon entry including a � bottle of champagne for toasting the Queen and a plastic poncho with the Queen's Golden Jubilee Logo emblazoned on the back. I'm sure they had a fantastic time.

We had a great time as the performers were fantastic, the sound was awesome and the huge screens were amazing! After the concert, The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and some of the stars of the show took a curtain call at the center gate in front of the Palace. I ran over and got pretty close. As the Queen and company came out on to the dais, a man with a small boy on his shoulders pushed sideways in front of me and I could see nothing but his back. I wormed my way around the side of him. (That was difficult due to the crowd all-crushing forward to see Her Majesty.) Anyway, on tiptoe, with the camera over my head, I took a few pictures. If she's in any of them, I'll send them to Geraldine to post. I'm not sure I have the reporter's killer instinct!

Yesterday, Sunday, June 2nd, I was out of the hotel by 8:30 a.m. and off to the Mall. There I saw all the people gathering to hear the rehearsals, etc. for the Party in the Palace that is scheduled for tonight. Sundays events were at Windsor and I was told no media access. So I decided to tour the Tower of London and some other sites via one of those hop on hop off busses. I boarded at 9:30 a.m. and got home just about 6:00 p.m. It was another gorgeous, sunny day perfect for seeing the sights from the open top of the double-decker bus. It was a wonderful day. I grabbed some tea at the McDonald's in Victoria Station before heading back to my room to relax for the rest of the evening. I wrote out another 31 post cards and read another chapter in my book before falling asleep.

This morning, I awoke after eight. By the time I showered and got ready, the breakfast downstairs was already closed. I walked up Buckingham Palace Road and had breakfast at a little caf� called Taste. Next I walked back past Buckingham Palace to Lancaster House where I had originally gotten my media accreditation. I put on my tag and walked in. I went straight up to the desk and said (as politely as I could) "Will you please help me? I've come for the Queen's Jubilee and received my accreditation on Friday morning. What is it good for? I haven't been able to get into anything so far. Not the concerts, not the Thanksgiving Service at St. Georges, Windsor, nothing." So they sent me to the information desk, which until then I hadn't realized existed. Since my little speech worked so well the first time I repeated it to the woman at the help desk and added. "It must be good for something, wouldn't you agree?" She said well, we don't have many passes left for the seating outside the events. Let me see what I can find out.

She came back and asked if I was reporting live. I responded that I was a correspondent/journalist and she said the only passes she had left were for the stadium seating in the mall for the procession. I wasn't entitled to get into anything. They had had a few extra passes for a back portion of the concerts, but those were all taken. I felt like an idiot. I said, "I'd wish I'd known." I'm sorry to have let you all down.

Then I went back to the Internet Caf� and ordered two hours of time. When I was almost through reading my mail, a policeman came in and told us we had to shut down and evacuate the building for a security issue. I left for about an hour and came back to write this.

My plans for the rest of today are to call Tara Ogden at the BBC and see if there isn't a way I can get in with them - at least to stadium seating. Then I'll hang around the mall - which is getting more packed by the second. Today is definitely the first day the streets are totally packed. Then see the concert and head back to my room to shower and ready myself for meeting Tara Ogden of the BBC at 1:30 a.m. back at Lancaster House for the interview.

Well, I'm having fun even if I'm not digging up any great scoop!

All the best,

-- Eileen Sullivan --