Even on its greyest day, with its omnipresent rain clouds teasing the bustling population below, England's capital remains a world-class city high on any Canadian traveller's wish list. The royal wedding next week only makes the trip more enticing for those wishing to witness romantic pageantry.
More than 4,000 street parties are being planned for the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29 in London, and a number of Canadians will be in the massive crowds outside of Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace.
Paula Snow, of Kitchener, Ont., will be among them, a long-awaited first trip to England.
The salon owner and hairstylist says she's been interested in the monarchy since she was a little girl.
"It's one of those things that young girls get interested in," she told CTV.ca of her affection for the Royals. "When I was about two or three, my dad will pull out a dollar bill or a $20 bill and ask me, ‘Who is that?' and I would say 'Mummy' because I thought my mother looked so much like the Queen.
"My dad's no longer with us, so that's a fond memory I had."
A "career driven" salon owner for more than 25 years, she calls the royal wedding a dream trip.
"I'm going over to be a part of history. This is the future King of England and it's not every day a normal young woman gets to become a princess or a duchess."
While Snow is going to London to stay with friends (her husband "understood this was very much a girly thing"), other Canadians are going in packs.
Cian Horrobin, a 25-year-old Torontonian, will be among about 50 members of the Monarchist League of Canada who are travelling to London for the royal wedding celebrations.
Horrobin, who is the Greater Toronto Area chairman of the group, says the members come from coast to coast and he's certainly not the only young chap going on the trip.
A relative newcomer to the monarchy crowd, he says his interest was piqued during the Queen's 2002 Golden Jubilee visit to Canada, which he caught in Fredericton, N.B.
Horrobin, a student at the Royal Conservatory of Music, says he's become a monarchist partially out of Canadian patriotism.
"Nothing can have as much strength in differentiating yourself from an American as a Canadian as the Queen on the back of your money," he told CTV.ca.
Byron Thomas and his sister Jill are also travelling with the Monarchist League of Canada.
"You needed to book early if you wanted to find a place to stay," Byron Thomas told Canada AM earlier this year. "I called the Palace but they were booked solid."
Competition for decent viewing spots on the streets of the soon-to-be newly-minted royal couple the day of the wedding is expected to be fierce, with some expected to peg their spots a day in advance.
"It's why we are going," Byron Thomas said matter-of-factly, not ruling out the idea.
For some Canadians, the royal wedding is a chance to go home again.
Vivienne Phillips, 59, immigrated to Canada from the U.K. 30 years ago, and will be going to London with a friend, who was also born in Britain.
"(I've) never been there for that pageantry -- when you live there you don't bother -- so we thought we'd take in the wedding," the Victoria, B.C., woman says.
Phillips and her friend, who plan to stake out spots outside Buckingham Palace at 2 a.m., say they will be there "in true Canadian style" -- wearing their new country's colours proudly.
They won't be alone.
Horrobin says Monarchist League plans to let the royal couple know they have a loyal following in Canada.
"We are getting numerous Canadian flags put together, almost like a giant quilt, and all of the group is going to hold this up at Buckingham Palace and when Prince William and Kate look down they are going to see among the Union Jack and any other flags, a big sea of Canadian flags," he said.
Not including a Montreal Canadiens game in an American city for the Stanley Cup finals, the royal wedding might be a rare occasion for Canadians to get together en masse in a foreign country.
Snow will be blogging about the experience at , and says she hopes Canadians in London for the wedding can get in touch with each other through her website.
