All By Chance | Gemma DiCristina

Albert Memorial in Kensington Palace

A year before this trip, I was lucky enough to become good friends with an Irish student studying abroad at LSU. He has family who lives in South Kensington, in London, England, and we could stay with them before my trip to Germany. On my last day in London, I woke up early before my friend did, so I decided to go exploring by myself.

I headed out of the apartment and made a beeline towards Kensington Garden. This garden was full of great people watching, a few grand statues, and, of course, breathtaking gardens. I decided to sit down and admire one particular statue called the Albert Memorial. A nice old man then started talking to me and offered me some bread to feed the birds. Reluctantly, I took the bread and the man left me with the birds. This was the start of my very strange and eventful day. After my strange encounter I decided to get up and walk some more through the park, passing a large lake full of geese, swans, and boats full of people. I looked at my map and realized I was only a mile away from Buckingham Palace, so I decided to head in that direction. As I started walking out of the garden, I saw people in red coats with large, black hats marching and playing instruments down the street. I watched them pass and thought I had caught a parade. After the band had passed, I kept walking and then heard cannon shots. I naturally went towards the sound and stumbled upon soldiers firing off eight cannons one by one. Once the cannons went off a few dozen times, they started packing up. This was meticulously done by harnessing two horses to each of the cannons and escorted by even more soldiers in fancy coats on horses. Airplanes then started to pass by above me, blowing smoke of red white and blue behind them, making a very patriotic flag. After the air show was over I realized how close I had gotten to Buckingham Palace and the amount of people that were around where the castle was.

Still not sure exactly what was going on, I entered into the crowd and saw that the street in front of the castle was blocked by the police. A local woman called me up to the front saying, “us short people need to stick together”. I finally asked her the question I had been wondering all day, which was what exactly was happening, only to be informed that it was the Queen’s birthday. I go so excited I could not believe what I had run into. I was then able to see the whole royal family leave Buckingham Palace in fancy cars going off to more excursions. After the festivities were over, I met up with my friend who, unfortunately, slept through the whole thing.

Soldiers carrying out the cannons.