A day in Windsor

Today was a great day - Halli, Christy and I went to Windsor to see the Windsor Castle. This is where the Queen spends most of her weekends and it's about 50 minutes away from London. The town was quaint and cute and had the typical small town feel. There were lots of outdoor cafes and a really pretty river with a ferris wheel. We ate lunch as soon as we got off the train at this huge place called Brown's Pub. They have them all over. We sat on the 2nd floor overlooking the river, partly outside. I had a steak, mushroom and guinness pie - something I will miss very much in the states. It came with mashed potatoes and french beans. (green beans) and a cider, of course. Then we made our way to the castle.

The castle is ENORMOUS.. it's the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world. Google "Windsor Castle", click on the royal collection link and you can find pictures of it in it's entirety, something my camera was not capable of.. or maybe it's that we weren't in a helicopter taking the pics. We got our tickets after waiting in line on a very warm day in Windsor and started our tour. We got free audio guides which were great - Prince Charles was even on it! Felt like I was standing right next to him... k not really.

We walked around the outside, unfortunately did not get to go into St. George's Chapel - one of the finest examples of gothic architecture - but I got pictures of the outside. We took the classic picture with the guard who was moving, so he didn't live up to the "guard" reputation, but we still got pictures.

Then we got in line to go into Queen Mary's Dolls' Houses.. it's a collection of doll houses and miniature items that Queen Mary collected. The main doll house is HUGE, it put my doll house to shame. All of the miniatures in the doll house were hand made by people, even the paintings were painted as miniatures by people. This doll house was made to resemble the castle I believe. It had all of the correct rooms in the correct places. It was fascinating. There were two little girls looking at it when we walked past and they were so excited. I was too so I could only imagine what they were thinking. It made me want to be 7 again playing with my dolls. Then we went into a room of paintings and pictures. There were original paintings and drawings by Da Vinci and photos of the Queen's and King's and their children. There are pictures of Princess Diana with her sons and letters Prince Charles wrote his grandma from the air force/navy (whichever). So that was a cool room.

Next we went through the State Apartments. They were overly elaborate with paintings and gold and ridiculous furniture everywhere. We went to a room full of weapons and guns were hung in circles on the walls - hard to explain and even harder to envision because we were not allowed to take pics inside. Cool though. We saw the sword of Henry XIII. He is buried in St. George's Chapel too.. pretty cool!

After we got through the castle we came out and left... it was fun! Definitely worth the 13 pounds we paid to go. I have a bunch of pictures of the outside I'm posting as I'm writing this.

Tonight I have to edit my 5 page paper due tomorrow  - last one for GK's class though!

Since I only have two weeks left I've been thinking a lot about home. I can't wait to get back but I don't want to leave London and all my summer has had to offer. I love it here and I've had one of the best summers of my life and I don't want it to end! I have completely mixed emotions and I don't know what to think besides to make the absolute most out of the time I have left - which may be a bit difficult considering the amount of money in my bank account - but I'll do it somehow. I want to see as much as possible, do as much as possible and drink as much cider and black currant and pimms and lemonade as possible =)

Here are some things I'm looking forward to since on the subject:

Seeing HEATH

kissing Jasmine's cute face

Jack Stacks and OK Joe's BBQ

SLEEPING... all day maybe

laying out and getting tan

a pedicure/manicure and haircut - in desperate need of all three!

a starbucks or panera coffee

a panera cinnamon crunch bagel with hazelnut cream cheese

Brio's lobster bisque

Heath's corn and black bean salsa - I've had salsa twice all summer, that's just not right.

crab dip

real pillsbury biscuits, with apple butter

an American cheeseburger

North Dragon chicken fried rice

Driving my car - but not filling up my tank =(

watching American tv shows - I've missed so much

watching STEP UP 2

a shower with consistent temperature (not freezing cold to 3rd degree burns)

my cocoa butter lotion 

Mug rootbeer

ICED TEA

my friends

columbia

my house

forge and vine - food, terrace, even working

having my own bedroom and bathroom with lots of room

my new roommates!

piano bar

seniors on the quad for bid day 

being able to use my blackberry

not having to worry about a time difference before I make phone calls/send emails

football season

and my senior semester

A list of what I'll miss from London will come later!

pictures are up from today!