Aerial shot of Windsor Castle

Photo from london-architecture.info

Here is an aerial shot of Windsor to get a feel for how massive it is... nothing but the biggest and the best for the Queen!

The journey to Windsor

Our new "ticket" given to us by the nice customer service man at Heathrow

Over the weekend, Emily and I decided to go to Windsor Castle, the official residence of the Queen. We booked our train tickets and were good to go... so we thought...

To avoid the rush to the station like last weekend's trip to Bath, we left in plenty of time. However, the journey really began when we were unsure which platform to go on. A man at information gave us the platform and train time, so we hopped on a train....

Not exactly on the way, but we made it work!

... that took us to Heathrow airport terminals!! It wasn't quite where we wanted to be, and the wide eyed look of disbelief that everyone was giving us when we asked for help wasn't making us feel any better about our situation!

Luckily, we found a nice guy to help and he gave us good (written) directions. Finally, after a 2 hour journey instead of the 45 minutes it would supposed to be, we made it to Windsor.

The bustling city of Windsor

Windsor

Windsor was much busier than I had expected, but it was the castle estate that really stole the stage. I was absolutely amazed to see a true castle up close. Windsor Castle is the Queen's home, and she spends most weekends there. As a whole, the castle is home to about 150 people! It is open for touring and used for special Queenly ceremonies such as new knights to the Order of the Garter or diplomatic dinners.

Emily at the beginning of our Windsor Castle audio tour

The entrance of the Queen and where she must stay when the Castle is open and she is here (the only part we weren't shown through!)

The interior was incredible! Think of the most ornate room you have ever seen, multiply that by 100, and then clone the room to form a castle... and that's Windsor!

Special feature: Queen Mary's doll house, which has to be the coolest dollhouse I have ever seen. Everything was so precise and detailed... the doll wine cellar (no joke) was stocked with little wine bottles, and the doll Crown Jewels (!) were exact minis of the real things.

It doesn't get much more "castle-y" than this!

I am a Queen groupie... her banner is flying so she was home!

And we made it back to our flats, safe in sound, in a very swift 45 minutes.

Saturday AM and PM stroll

Camden Market... note scary/weird figures on the side of the buildings on the left..

What else do you do when it is a pretty Saturday morning in London than go to the market? I headed to Camden Market, which is a combo of five different markets in the general area. I have to be honest, I was a little nervous about my decision at first... I don't really fit in with the black-fishnets-piercing-tatoos crowd! But further into the stalls, I started getting into market mode.

Sports complex in Regent's Park

From Camden Market I walked to Regent's Park. I stumbled upon the sports complex. It was very busy... I spotted games of rugby, football (our soccer), and cricket. In the background of the above picture, you can see The Hub.... a cafe and 360 degree view of the entire complex.

Beautiful blooms in Queen Mary's Garden

My favorite part of Regent's Park was Queen Mary's Garden. They had sections of sooo many roses and signs telling the names of each rose. Some good names: Sexy Rexy, Invincible, Razzle Dazzle, and Indian Summer.

Spotted: wedding!

After a quick lunch at the flat, I headed west to Holland Park and their Japanese Garden. The Holland Park area is super pretty and I spent a long time walking around... (not because I was getting lost...)

The houses around the park = majorly impressive!! Every house had beautiful landscaping around the front entry and black ironwork. I wonder how much pounds you would have to be willing to shell out for one of these places...

My future residence in Holland Park

The grand entry at every home

I knew the street... just not where the actual park was.

Dutch gardens in Holland Park

When I did finally find the Japanese gardens, they weren't quite as neat as the other parks I have seen. What I did find: a wedding (reception?) occurring at the Belvedere, a restaurant in the park. It looked very posh!

Spotted: wedding no. 2!

See that girl... watch that scene..

Millennium Bridge and St. Paul's

After my visit to Buckingham Palace, I headed east to Tate Modern, a museum of modern art. I really enjoyed walking across Millennium Bridge when we went to Tate's neighbor, the Globe Theatre, so I took that route again. It was rainy, but the view of the riverside made up for the many umbrellas.

On the Tate Modern side of the Thames

Tate Modern... one of the most exteriorly unattractive museums I have seen!

Tate Modern was pretty crowded, so I did a quick look at the open galleries. I saw a few disfigured people paintings by Pablo Picasso, and several interesting installations. Tate Modern is such a different gallery than the formal and traditional National Gallery we had visited earlier!

After Tate Modern, I went to see my fourth (!!) show of the trip, Mamma Mia!. Although the actors weren't quite as good as in my previously seen shows, the energy and music was electrifying!! I think the story is so fun, and it is impossible not to enjoy the ABBA tunes. The crowd got really involved, and sang and dance throughout the show. I was especially fond of the oh-so-glamorous '70s costumes :)

How can I resist you?

Booked: train tickets to Windsor Castle on Sunday for Emily and I. Maybe that is where the Queen ran off to this morning?

Changing of the guards

The Queen is home in the picture on the left, her flag is up. But towards the end of the ceremony, I noticed the British flag is up so she must've left!

This morning I went to see the changing of the guards again. I got there 45 minutes early and snagged a spot by a pole on the Victoria Memorial where Britt said was an excellent view. She was right-- I had a great spot of every march! I took several videos too to capture the full effect :)

Weekend 1: Edinburgh with Ros and Jenny

For more pictures of weekend adventures, make sure you visit "Roz's World", a blog by Ros. The link is one the righthand side of this blog homepage, or you can click here. I just left a taste of their gorgeous pictures, so make sure you click to see the rest! There are some good ones of Ros and Jenny dressed up in costumes... don't miss out!

[If you click on the "Roz's World" link on this blog's homepage, at the top of her page, go to "Recent Entries" to see all of her entries]

Lloyd's, lunch, and more

Ethan dressing for success! Can you say "business major"??

Right after class, we hit the Tube and headed to insurance central, Lloyd's of London. I could tell we were in a business district because the dress code of people on the pavement had switched from trendy-artsy to business professional.

Jenny and Ros enjoying the ride in outside-the-building glass elevators

Awesome view! (St. Paul's is the dome building just right of the middle)

Lloyd's is an insurance market (as explained in Prof William's previous post). It originated as a coffee shop where merchants would also insure their ships. They have loss books that date back to the beginning of the operations in the 1700s that keep hand written records of all sunk, damaged, attacked, and loss ships. Lloyd's still has loss books today, but the number of merchant ships is much fewer.

Mike, Emily, Charlotte, Nicki, and Muriel in the conference room

We met with a longtime employee in the publicity and PR department who gave us a general rundown of the company. Interesting fact: this March, Lloyd's insured the tongue of the "Italian Master of Coffee" for Costa Coffee in London. The valuable tongue belongs to Gennaro Pelliccia, and he tastes all of Costa's raw coffee beans in the London roastery!

The building had lots of levels and lots of escalators!

The people at Lloyd's, hard at work.

Diagon Alley from Harry Potter.. aka Leadenhall Market

After Lloyd's, the class scattered to their various stations or airports for weekend travels. A group of us visited the location of Diagon Alley. It was pretty neat to think they filmed in there, and I am going to have to watch the films again so I can check out similarities and differences.

Ethan and Emily enjoying a Pizza Express lunch in Diagon Alley

After lunch, I headed to the Victoria & Albert Museum, an art and design museum. The focus is on textile, sculpture, and photography. I was particularly interested in the fashion exhibit. They displayed historical costumes, famous outfits (such as Di's dress), and up-and-coming designs from the students of the Royal College of Art.

Still a little obsessed with Princess Diana... her "Elvis" design by Catherine Walker
(photo by dianasjewels.net)

Chandelier by Dale Chihuly in the lobby of the V&A

I have to admit, I am a great lover of museum gift shops. The V&A had an especially interesting array of beautiful items... that were a bit out of my price range.

The door to the V&A.. it is huge!

On the way home, since I was in the neighborhood (and not at all because I am mildly in love with this glamourous store), I stopped in Harrod's again. Talk about out of my price range! Harrod's makes the V&A shop look like the clearance aisle in the Dollar Store!

Where people are headed for Weekend No. 2:

1. Christina, Kelsey, Mal, Emma, Alison: Rome
2. Prof Williams and company: Sorrento, Italy (jealous!)
3. Charlotte, Mike, Jeff: Dublin
4. Ros and Jenny: a trip around Wales and Scotland
5. Myself, Ethan, Emily, and Perry: sticking around
6. Muriel, Angie, Nicki: Munich