Practically BFFs!

Queen Elizabeth II is visiting Ireland this week. I'm not Irish, so I'm not going to comment on the politics behind the visit, but the majority of the country seems pretty happy to welcome her. My American self thinks it's pretty cool that she's here. Let's be honest, I love a good celebrity sighting. Unfortunately due to such high security, they haven't allowed onlookers at any of the scheduled venues during her visit. Well on Tuesday I was walking home from meeting the newest little princess in Ireland and I saw people congregating along the barriers currently lining the city centre. Since I had nothing better to do but stand around, I stood around for about 30 minutes waiting for the Queen!

This is looking towards Trinity College. I think every police officer in the country is in Dublin this week.

Looking north towards the Spire. You can guess where the Queen is because of the helicopter hovering above her all the time. At this point she was at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square and you can see the helicopter here just next to the Spire.

Here's the Queenmobile!

You can (not very clearly) see Prince Philip in the back seat. The one thing I found handy was that they have a little flag on their car so no guessing which car it was going to be. And, unlike the US president, there isn't a dummy car in the motorcade, used to confuse bad people. There were no dissenters where I was. Some of you may have seen the news footage of people throwing stuff at the Garda on Dorset Street. Please understand that this wasn't the norm. People around me were either waving, clapping, or taking pictures. 

So, I trotted home, all excited that I got to see the Queen.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening. I had my outdoor yoga class in the Phoenix Park. The Queen is staying up in Farmleigh and while they'll let people into the park, security is pretty tight and they have barriers lining Chesterfield Road, the main drag through the park. Well, after class I saw a few people standing up along the barriers. I headed up there and the officer told us the front gate was closed and the Queen was running late for her dinner in Dublin Castle and would be by in about 10 minutes. Once again, I have nothing better to do but stand around and wait for the Queen! I thought it was pretty nice that they let us stand there and didn't shoo us away from the barriers. This sighting was much better because there were only about 6 or 7 of us standing there waving, with no one on the other side of the road. This meant they actually leaned forward to give us a wave and you could clearly see the beautiful tiara the Queen was wearing. I'm pretty sure she remembered me from the day before!

Next up: President Obama is visiting next week and will be addressing a crowd at Trinity College. Apparently there will be free tickets available, but I have no idea how to get one. If anyone out there knows, I'd appreciate a comment!