A Very British Summer

This summer we've had the chance to enjoy some quintessentially British events.  We've actually been lucky enough to have a summer this year too; instead of the cool rainy weather they tried to pass off as summer last year:)

Royal Ascot

Our first outing was to Royal Ascot.  Royal Ascot is the premier horse race of the summer calendar (sort of the Kentucky Derby of the UK but fancier.)  There is a pretty strict dress code for Royal Ascot; suits for men (many wear morning suits and top hats but that's only required if you are in the Royal Enclosure and we were not) and dresses and hats for women (dresses must be a certain length and shoulder straps must be at least 1" thick.)  So, after several shopping trips to find the perfect outfits, we were ready to go.  Unfortunately, the day was windy (not great for hats) with rain showers, and about 55 degrees (pretty chilly in a dress!)  But, we didn't let that ruin the fun.  We took the train out at 11am and were on the grounds by 12:30pm, after a pretty long slow queue from the train station.

the ladies at the train station:

Our first stop was the Queen Anne Lawn for some food and Pimms pitchers

The day begins with the Royal Procession, where the Queen (who attends all 4 days of the event every year) parades around the track before taking her place in the Royal Box.  This was the closest I've ever been to the Queen!!

that's her in the blue:

 close-up on the tv:

We watched the first race from the tiered standing room only seating but then discovered that the best spot was on the grass.  We were able to get right up next to the track and you could feel the ground shake as the horses went by!  We bet on every race but considering we know nothing about horse racing we of course didn't have a single win.  In fact, the horse I chose for one of the races was a good 200 feet behind the rest of the pack.  Oh well....it was a fun day with great people:)

 Sam and Jess:

 Jessi, Dan, Sam:

 Molly, Jess, Jessi:

Wimbledon

The next weekend we went to Wimbledon.  Queuing for Wimbledon is a great experience; even though we did try to get last minute tickets online, I'm actually glad we weren't successful and ended up queuing.  We joined the Queue at 5:45am and were 4,684th in line!  Anyone queuing for Center Court, Court 1 or Court 2 camps out the night before (or 2 nights before!) and that makes up the first 1500 or so people (500 for each court) and then there are anywhere from 6000-9000 grounds passes available each day.  So, at 4,684  we were in solid position for grounds passes, which is what we were going for.

Queue cards:

 The Queue:

We brought blankets, drinks and snacks, and the time went by really quickly.  I think we may have been the first people in the queue to open our Prosecco and start drinking;)  We even played a game of Oh Hell while we waited.

 teaching everyone Oh Hell:

 Brad, Dan, Molly, Lauren, Jay:

We started moving towards the gates around 10:30am and got into the grounds by noon.  Once inside we grabbed some lunch and then sat on Henman Hill to make a plan of action for the day.  

 Henman Hill:

With grounds passes, you have access to courts 4-19, which are all standing only (some have a few benches) and are mostly doubles and juniors matches.  You can get right up next to the court, which is pretty neat.  You can also queue for Court 3 which has a section of unreserved seating.  We walked around some of the outside courts first and watched James Blake (USA) in a doubles match and Jamie Loeb, a US junior.

 Centre Court:

 Jamie Loeb:

We then got into the queue for Court 3 seats; we waited about 45 minutes and got in just before the Radwanska/Madison Keys match.  Turned out to be a great match with Radwanska winning in the end but Keys, who is only 18, put up a great fight.  

Court 3:

 Radwanska:

 Keys:

After that match we picked up a giant tennis ball souvenir and headed home to Henry.  It was a great day; beautiful sunny weather, great tennis and good friends:)