Touring of London (Day 6)

The final day of my London pass. Today was Windsor castle and Eton college.

It was my first day using an actual train. I departed from Paddington station. HOLY COW IT WAS GINORMOUS. I had to ask a information desk person which platform I was to go. There were lots of people with suitcases and kids running around. Pretty much like an airport but no one was leaving the ground. The first train to Slough was pretty crowded but I managed to find a seat next to a super nice elderly lady. She was heading up to Oxford to visit some of her kids and grandkids. We weren't able to talk for very long since I had to change trains but it was still fun talking with her a bit. When I got on the train to Windsor I sat with a Asian family (their two little daughters were so cute^^).

There was a lot of people at Windsor. So many stores, cafes, some theatres, the castle, lots to do in the town of Windsor. I took an audio tour with me as I walked around the castle. But before I got serious with the tour, I went down to St. George's Chapel to find a nice spot to watch the Changing of the Guard. I was about 40 minutes early and only a few people were there so I had a pretty great seat. At about 10:50 other guards marched out of the guard room and the Sergeant was yelling out some orders of looking right and forward then all was silent. About 10 minutes later, we heard a band playing. Five minutes later we saw the band and new regiment come marching through King Henry's gate. Following that the old and new Sergeants went up to each other, shook hands, then yelled out orders to their regiments. Then the band played a few numbers. After all that took place, the band started marching out along with the old regiment while the new regiment marched back into the guard room and the new guard took his place by the booth.

After that excitement, I officially started my tour of the castle. I first went to see Queen Mary's Doll house, the Queen's drawing gallery, and the State rooms. There was a LONG line and it took some time to go through it. While I was waiting, there was a small group of elementary students with a mom and her son. The son was about my age. As we waited in line, we both got bored and almost at the same time we got out our iPhones. He noticed first and said, "that's a cool mobile you have there." After he said that, I saw he also had a iPhone and replied, "Thanks, you have a pretty cool mobile yourself." We occasionally made some small talk about apps and games but mainly played our games silently. When we got to the front, his group went on ahead and I had to wait to get in so the doll house room wasn't overcrowded. Another 15 minutes passed and I finally got in. The doll house was amazing! It reminded me of the doll house in the Secret World of Arreitty (probably spelled that wrong. The new Miyazaki movie) but it was bigger and more elaborate. All the furniture, paintings, and even the mini crown jewels were made my professional craftsmen. Sadly I couldn't take pictures because they didn't allow it :/

I then moved on to the Drawing gallery where they displayed 60 photos of the queen to celebrate her 60 years on the throne. I ran into that small group I waited in line with again and the guy and I nodded at each other and continued looking at the photos in silence. After looking around the room, I moved onto the State Rooms.

I went up the grand staircase and saw all kinds of suits of armor, swords, and shields. It was a cool little entrance to the rooms. I then moved into the rooms where the Queen and past royalties would have an audience with people, the dining halls, personal bedrooms, and a beautiful long hallway. Throughout the state rooms, I would run into the guy and his group again. Either they'd catch up with me or I'd catch up with me. When we got to the dining hall, the guy came up next to me by the window and said, "I'm starting to think you're stalking me" then I replied "I don't know about that. You just came into this room after me, You sure you're not following me?" And we giggled at that. It was pretty nice to sort of had some people to tour together with. After we all went through the rooms, we had some difficulty finding the exit. We eventually found it and went our seperate ways.

I ate my lunch on the North terrace and had a pretty nice view. Some guards marched past me and I'd salute them. The first ones looked pretty surprised that I did that and the last one actually saluted back to me.

I ended my visit by going inside of St. George's Chapel. Everything was repainted and restored so it looked extra shiny and new. In the choir room, I took a seat and decided to say a little prayer of gratitude for being able to visit Windsor.

After seeing pretty much all I was allowed to see (couldn't go inside the kitchens or Conquer tower. Bummer), I moved on to go see Eton college. It took me a little longer to get there since I took a wrong turn and somehow ended up leaving the town of Windsor (oops). I managed to get to the college just in time for the 3:15 tour. The tour itself was full of information but after having such hilarious tour guides at the globe theater and Tower of London, it was hard for the guide to reach those entertainment expectations. But I still had fun. Promise :)

When I got back to the Johnson's, I had a small dinner of homemade pizza (delicious). I decided to watch "Kiki's Delivery Service." Such a cute movie :)

Till next time!