Friday, August 31st

We dropped off our deposit on our new flat this morning...yay! When we got to the bank, they told us that there's a fee for a wire transfer or we can just take the money out in cash for nothing. So we decide to save a couple bucks and withdraw 10 weeks rent in crisp, new 50 pound notes. They counted it out and handed it over to us, and then we booked it to the real estate office hoping not to get mugged or that Bobby could at least distract a would-be mugger while I sprinted the rest of the way. We managed to arrive safely to pay it off - the apartment's ours as of Monday!

Then we headed to Buckingham Palace to try to catch the changing of the guard, but instead we ended up getting an up-close view of the guests arriving at Princess Diana's memorial service. Today was the 10th anniversary of her death and the princes held a service for her. We stood (me on tippytoes) at the gates with the paps (what they call papparazzi here) and news teams. We managed to get a couple good pictures. Below there is Sir Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin Group, the car that the princes came in (I think if you zoom in, you can kind of make out one of them, possibly Harry?, in the backseat), and Bobby waiting with the crowd. Of course my camera died RIGHT before the Queen drove in.

Later in the day, we stopped by Kensington Palace to see the flowers and notes people left in the Princess' memory. It was a moving tribute.