Make Way for the Queen's Guards

     I have been wanting to try a sushi restaurant in Cambridge, so when Sam came home from work on Friday I decided we should have a date night. Sam had other plans, which included sleeping, after his long day of throwing away boxes at work. Oh and he was a bit grumpy too, saying he didn't want to drive to Cambridge. So I took him to Nandos in Bury St. Edmunds instead of Cambridge. After dinner we thought we would go across the street to see a movie, however, nothing of interest was playing so I bought popcorn, Sam bought sour patch kids, and we left. It turned out to be a great date night! Sam decided that since we hadn't been to London in awhile that it was time to go again. So he contacted his sister, Rachel, and asked her what they haven't done there yet. She sent us a list back, telling us to have fun, but not realizing Sam was asking them to hang out with us. We decided to meet Rachel and Josh in Windsor on Saturday for a day of castle fun!

I had tea with the lovely ladies from my Bible Study one day last week

I loved the tea set and all the yummy snacks!

     We left at 8:00am on Saturday to pick Rachel and Josh up at a tube station on our way to Windsor. It took us about three laps around the station before we could find some parking and after our hour and a half drive I really had to pee. Lucky for me there was a toilet in the tube station and that is where I found my SIL, I guess great minds think alike! Sam also met Josh in the toilet. After picking them up we headed the rest of the way to Windsor. Windsor is a town famous for Windsor Castle, which is a functional royal castle, just like Buckingham Palace. We parked, for 12 pounds...yikes, and headed through the rain and cold to the castle gates. The Queen wasn't at Windsor while we were there, but Rachel still managed to get a picture with her...or at least a calendar of the Queen....close enough. Our tickets included a free audio tour, this was my first experience with an audio tour since I was young and toured Elvis Presley's house, I was a bit confused and relieved that the audio tour didn't come with head phones (that kind of grosses me out) but it basically looks like you are talking on a Zach Morris cell phone. We started the tour with St.Georges Chapel, which is beautiful (though no pictures were allowed) and both of the Queen's parents are buried there so it was super cool to see their  tombstones. I also continued my tradition and lit a candle, which I do at every chapel. After the church, and a few gift shops, we headed to a thirty minute kitchen tour. It was really neat to see the kitchen that is used for big fancy events and tea times held by the Queen. There was a fire at Windsor in the 90's (what a sad decade for the British Royals...yet they still play nothing but 90's music around here, I guess they don't want to let it go) and most of the tour was before/after the fire stories. The kitchen was pretty big and they had a mixer that could mix 60 eggs....at the same time...oh my! There was even a tribute to all the contractors and construction workers who worked on rebuilding the castle post fire.

Windsor Castle

Sam and Josh listening to their audio guides

Rainy and cold day at Windsor

The Queen lives here sometimes

Rachel listening to the audio guide

Windsor Castle

Cool thing to do with an old moat area

We didn't get to see this part of the castle

Or that part of the castle but I hear in August/September you can walk to the top of that tower...good thing we got our tickets stamped and can go back anytime in the next year for free.

The Chapel

See the castle is like its own town

      After our kitchen tour we decided to take a lunch break. There aren't any cafes or places to eat at Windsor Castle, which was strange, because it seemed to be a little town all of its own, but we got some awesome wrist bands and headed across the street from the castle. We found the cutest little pub, but I cant remember the name of it. The inside was like a house, there were wooden tables (pretty common in pubs) and a fire place with some awesome artwork on the walls. The food menu was all comfort type foods. Sam, Josh and Rachel all lack originality and ordered the leek and chicken pie, which a "pie" is a pretty standard British food, it is like a chicken pot pie...only not. Anyway, I ordered the stew and a pot of tea while the three other Americans all ordered beer...again no originality, though they did order different beers at least...gosh it was so embarrassing to be sitting with people who all ordered the same food. Haha, just kidding! Sam is usually the one who hates it when someone else orders what he wants. Anyway, the food was delicious, our waiter was friendly and he said his mom makes the best pies. You know you are eating good food if someones mom made it! After lunch we headed back to the castle to see the last part, the state rooms. The state rooms were amazing, it was so neat to hear the history behind each room and see how they were restored after the fire. Again, there were no pictures allowed in this area either, but I learned a lot. If you ever visit London then I definitely recommend a side trip to Windsor Castle if you have time!

I stood at attention next to the guard...Sam didn't.

Make way for the Queens guards

The guards were changing out

Pretty castle

This must be the part that the Queen lives in

Or maybe its all of that she lives in...because we didn't get to go inside any of it

Moat Path

Hi friends!

Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook

Mr. and Mrs. Baird

Some random people playing lacrosse

Josh taking in the view

Castle at night

Castle wall at night

       After the castle we walked around the cute town of Windsor in search of a tea house. We came across the Crooked Tea Room, which was a very quaint British tea room, though the waiters and waitresses weren't dressed as cool as the ones at Harriet's tea room in Bury St. Edmunds. This time Rachel and I were the same, ordering tea and scones. Josh had hot chocolate and scones while Sam had coffee and pancakes. After our afternoon tea we did some shopping around the town and then it was time to head home. Sam was feeling adventurous and decided to drive Rachel and Josh all the way to their flat in London instead of to the tube station. It was a bit scary driving the American car in central London and a 40 minute drive turned into 2 hours, but Sam did a good job and Rachel fed us chili. We finally made it home around 11:00pm, it was a fun and busy Saturday and my feet were tired by the end of it!

I have no words for this picture...but Josh's face is epic

Crooked Tea House

Rach and I in front of the crooked tea house

Train station at Windsor

Our tea time drinks

Sam's pancakes

Tea time

Yummy! I love scones...

     After Church on Sunday Sam and I had a nice lunch and then we both took a nap. I made some salad and rolls then headed to my friend Jill's house to finish the Lord of the Rings. The third movie is the best and I must admit something, because most of my readers are friends and family who wont judge me, when I came home I pretended to be Smeagol (the creepy guy from Lord of the Rings) I walked like him saying "you hobbits-es have crumbs-es...precious". If you haven't seen Lord of the Rings then you wont appreciate that and will probably just think I am strange, but it made Sam laugh! Sam had a flight today and I went to a delicious Italian night squadron spouse function. It was a great time! As for the rest of our week, tomorrow we have Ash Wednesday Mass and Bible Study, Thursday Sam is making me a special valentines dinner, (and thanks to the commissary for conveniently putting dipping chocolate next to strawberries we will be having chocolate covered strawberries too), and Friday we are going on leave since Sam couldn't take it last week for our Barcelona trip. We will be heading to Luxemburg and Belgium for a little holiday and I cant wait! I am so glad we will be able to take a trip after all, even though it isn't to Barcelona, but we will definitely see Barcelona before we move.

A legit telephone booth that loves Britain

Thanks for reading! I hope everyone has a Happy Valentines Day!


Love,
Amanda