Day 3: Windsor Castle and Hampton Court

Well, I was granted an extension until I got back from Paris, so here's a few brief posts.

On our third day, we went to Windsor Castle and Hampton Court using a tour. It was a little bit whirlwind, but since our time in London was limited, it was a cheaper, faster way to see both castles.

The first is Windsor castle, where the Queen still takes residence. It's apparently her favorite place of residence, as she is still (at 80+) an active horse rider and the area around Windsor has a lot of space for that.


Windsor Castle

There's also a town of Windsor, which is connected to the town of Eton just across the river Thames. Megan and I love Eton. It's just so cute.


A street in Eton

Windsor has a lot of interesting things inside, including the Royal China and a famous Dollhouse in which everything is exactly 1/12th to scale. The plumbing works and the books can be read. Sadly, Windsor, like many things in England, does not allow pictures inside.


The Queen's Apartments, where she lives when she's at Windsor


St. George's Cathedral, within the walls of Windsor

The next stop was Hampton Court, probably most famous for being the primary residence of Henry VIII. Hampton Court is a little different than the other castles, in that it was constructed as a palace, rather than a fortress, first.


Front of Hampton Court


Me, auditioning for the role of "Lion Gargoyle."

Hampton Court was nice, but it was getting dark already (there's only about 7 hours of daylight in this part of the world) and it was soon time to head back for the rest of our New Year's eve.

We ended up heading over to Buckingham Palace after we couldn't get over to the Thames.


The view from Buckingham Palace. The London Eye is in the background.

We have some pretty good pictures and video, but I think these sum things up best. Sorry for the quality and the sometimes-spastic motion.

Untitled from Chris Ing on Vimeo.

Snow! from Chris Ing on Vimeo.

More to come.

Problems and delays

Hello everyone,

I apologize for not updating this blog as much as I had anticipated. But there were some things that happened that I didn't mentally plan for:

1. No internet in Edinburgh. We thought we had it, but didn't. This is sort of a minor problem, though, because even if we had we'd be fighting off...

2. Complete exhaustion. Getting up and going every single day eventually catches up to you, and I've been collapsing into bed around 8 or 9 o'clock every night for the past few nights. I'm normally a night owl and I thought I'd be clicking these posts up at night. Megan and I have taken it easier for the last couple days to help reset, but...

3. My novel has a request for a full manuscript. I got this email this morning, despite it being sent a couple of days ago. This is a very rare thing for an aspiring author to, on his first try, get a partial and then a full. The problem is, of course, I'm in Paris. Megan has told me I should take some time and get it together so I don't lose my chance.

So, the blog is going to take some time. The pictures have been uploaded for many things in the album, so feel free to click around. I know I'll be finishing these updates eventually, but for now it looks like I'm stuck.

We're looking forward to seeing you all soon.

Day 2: Westminster and the Tower of London

Our hotel is set right in the city of Westminster, across from the official "town" of London (over the Thames.) Because of that, we decided that the first stop should be Westminster Abbey, which is a moderate walk away.


Westminster Abbey from inside the Cloisters

Oddly this is the best exterior shot I have. Somehow the rest of the pictures from the front didn't make it.

Westminster Abbey is probably the most important church in England, and one of the oldest, with a place of worship having existed on that spot for nearly a thousand years. This is also where the Kings and Queens of England are Coronated.

Sadly, you're not allowed to take pictures on the inside, which is weird since I thought I had taken them the last time I was there. But the interior is incredible, with incredible, varied architecture (the interiors often changed with Kings) and the graves of some of England's most influential figures, including many Kings.


The Cloisters, where much daily monk living took place

It took us about half the day to get through it all. Quite the site.

For the second half of the day, we sat through the last half of our Bus tour. It was still cloudy and cold, so by the time we got to the Tower of London we were freezing and hungry. But thankfully, we found a friend:



Wagamama is a Japanese Ramen house, and had easily the best food we've eaten so far, with the freshest ingredients and much-needed hot soup.


Megan has finally mastered chopsticks!


Spicy ramen with chicken.

After refueling, we headed into the Tower of London, famous for it's various functions throughout its history, but probalby the most imfamous as being a place of execution. This was kind of difficult for us to do thoroughly as it began to rain heavily while we were there. We managed to get through some of the perimeter, then saw the Crown Jewels (pictures weren't allowed there either) and then headed back.



The White Tower


Megan next to a Yeoman Warder (also known as a Beefeater). They guard the Crown Jewels and give tours, and they live in the Tower. We eventually had to give up the tour because of the rain and the ever increasing crowd that followed him around.


The building where the Crown Jewels are held. You can see the long line (or in British: "queue").

To end our day, we attempted to go on Ghost Walk. This Ghost Walk was free and part of our bus tour, but we never found the tour. We asked a policeman if he knew where they were, and said he hadn't seen any tours waiting in front of the National Gallery (and Trafalgar Square). He asked us if we had a contact number, to which I replied I didn't have a phone.

So, we decided instead to eat a a pub.


The spots are raindrops reflecting the flash, and not, in fact, ghosts.


Megan's Irish Beef Casserole

My steak and chips.

We have to partially forgive the British for their food, because this meal was good. Apparently one should just order what they know how to do, which is grill steak and make casseroles. Very satisfying.

The beer pictured is "London's Pride" which I ordered when I saw its name on the lever thingy. It was good. Well, I thought it was good. Megan had a sip, and her response was:

"It taste like it smells, which is gross."

And so we come to the end of Day 2.

----

Apologies for the delay in the blogs. It takes a long time to upload the hundreds of pictures we take a day, sometimes up to two hours. I've also uploaded a few videos you'll see. By the time those pictures and videos are uploaded, I've usually fallen asleep on accident.

I'm going to try and get the rest of of them up later today, as all of the pictures are prepped. It's also a lighter day as we take the train to Edinburgh.