Day Five from Miriam

Today I was on my feet. Allllll. Day. Long.

And it was totally worth it.

In the morning, Melissa, Shelby, Amy and I went to Portobello Road.

Portobello road, Portobello road
Street where the riches of ages are stowed.
Anything and everything a chap can unload
Is sold off the barrow in Portobello road.
You’ll find what you want in the Portobello road.

A lot of other people had the same idea.

The road was peppered with street musicians and crepe makers. We decided to stop for crepes.

It was so cool watching them make the crepes!

NUTELLAAAA!!!!

Oh my gloriousness.

(Sorry for the jerky video at the end. Sometimes when I get excited I forget that I have a camera.)

EEEEEEEEE!

Then, of course, I had to pose for a picture...

Oh hey, we have an arcade. Apparently.

Just to help you get a feel for the atmosphere, here are more shops, street musicians, and a singing shop owner.

A bit earlier, he was making up a jazz tune about how he was lowering the price of shirts from 5 pounds to 2. He was awesome.

Also, whose brilliant idea was it to turn Nutella jars into lanterns? Whoever they are, I love them.

Then, we got home and found out that Kate had just given birth to the Princess of Cambridge!

So, we made a beeline for St. Mary's Hospital. There were pink pennants outside of the hospital, and it was adorable!

Also, you run into bits of history everywhere in London. Like Penicillin. Who knew?

We joined the crowd waiting at St. Mary's, hoping against hope that since it had been a quick birth, they might take the baby home the same day.

After an age of waiting, they closed the street, they swept with search dogs, and two black cars pulled up. We were sure this was it!

As you can tell from our confusion, Prince William alone came out, and because of the crowd I was the only one of our group who could see him. We were all confused and figured Kate must have decided to stay the night at the hospital.

We started to leave to hunt down some dinner, but then through the front gates we saw the cars returning so we rushed back to the barricade. Prince William had returned!

He's in the passenger seat of the first car. Turns out, he had gone to bring George to meet the baby!

(I have footage of when he got out with George, but it's so far away and there are so many people in the way that you can't see ANYTHING.)

Then we got hopeful again and went to the other side of the street to see better.

We spent the next few hours between hope and despair.

Despairing when rumors flew about that they wouldn't come out until that night and when fancy-looking cars brought false alarms.

Hoping when we heard that Kate's hair stylist had visited, when a car dropped off a baby carrier, and when they swept the street again with dogs.

The black cars finally appeared at the end of the street, but they stopped.

I was standing on the lower bar of the barricade, my shins killing me from balancing against the upper bar. I'd been perched like a chicken on a roost for maybe two hours.

We waited breathlessly, wondering what would happen.

Then, suddenly.

There they were.

How she looks so great after going through labor the same day, I will never know.

(I apologize for the jerky video. As I warned you, I sometimes forget about my camera when I get excited. This one is a bit better.)

This is a glimpse of what we waited through for four hours. It was a surprisingly polite, quiet, and patient crowd. But it was definitely a crowd.

On the way back, we went to a cafe called ffiona's.

The owner, Ffiona, was a fantastic Welsh woman. She gave us personal recommendations, quickly brought us home-cooked food, sat at our table and chatted with us, told us awesome stories, and gave us toffee treacle pudding and blueberry apple crumble on the house when we found out it was her birthday and sang "Happy Birthday" to her!

The restaurant walls were covered in sheet music. She told us how she firmly believes that music can change people and help people find love and harmony.

She told us a cool story about one time when her little restaurant was filled with drunken Irishmen and some gay men (or "queens," as she called them). The Irishmen and the gay men were not getting along and she was afraid there was going to be a brawl.

Then, she found out two of the gay men were opera singers. She invited them to sing the duet "The Pearl Fishers." If you haven't heard it, this is what it sounds like. It's lovely.

She said she had at the time in her employ a fabulous accordionist who followed along with the singers. The pub fell silent. The men and the accordion then broke into Ave Maria in Italian, and she said everyone was weeping and they all left the best of friends.

That's the power of music, folks.

After a memorable dinner, we wended our way home. We were greeted by this happy sight at the Lady Diana.

Guys, I saw a princess today. I saw Will and Kate, and their new princess. With my naked eyes.

I walked Portobello Road, the street I've been singing about since I was little.

I ate giant crepes.

I made friends with a feisty Welsh woman.

And I saw a princess.

Each day here is even better than the last.