After a big day yesterday in Oxford, and quite a few early mornings over the last week or so, it was nice to have a sleep-in today. We got downstairs a bit after 9:30 am and enjoyed a lovely breakfast.

Breakfast.
Breakfast.

After breakfast we went back to our room and turned on the television to watch the coverage of the Queen’s funeral. After a little while we decided to venture outside to see whether it was even remotely practical to try to get some sort of vantage point to see some of the events of the day. Before we even got outside we were shocked by the number of people streaming past the hotel door. We walked out onto Park Lane, where we spoke with a very nice policewoman about the logistics of moving around. She made it pretty clear that, if we had the option to sit up on the rooftop terrace at The Dorchester, that would be our best option by far. So we walked back to the hotel and went upstairs to the top level. We watched the service at Westminster Abbey on the television in the lounge on the top floor of the hotel with a few other hotel guests. We all got somewhat of a fright when the canons started firing just across the street in Hyde Park! We then went out onto the terrace and took in the full experience of the canons.

The canons firing in Hyde Park.
The canons firing in Hyde Park.

From Westminster Abbey, the funeral procession headed up The Mall and then up Constitution Hill to Wellington Arch, which we could see from the hotel. Whilst it would have been nice to be a bit closer, we did have enough of a view to feel like we were immersed in the experience. It was sad but uplifting in a way.

The Queen's coffin arriving at Wellington Arch (where it was transferred to the hearse).
The Queen's coffin arriving at Wellington Arch (where it was transferred to the hearse).

We spent the rest of the day in our hotel room, watching the coverage of the hearse moving through London to Windsor and then the service at St. George’s chapel. There is probably no city in the world that does pageantry as well as London. But today’s ceremonies and outpouring of emotion were on a level not seen before.

After having hardly left the hotel for the day, we decided on room service for dinner and opted for our go-to comfort travelling meal of spaghetti with Bolognaise sauce. It was very nice and we agreed that it was just what we needed.

Room service for dinner.
Room service for dinner.

It’s now time for bed. It feels like it has been a very draining day, even though we have done very little. We have no particular plans for tomorrow so we’ll just see where the day takes us.