Daily life and tourist activities have been getting in the way of our blogging, so we'll cover last week today.
It has been a 4 day holiday in the UK. They have bank holidays for Good Friday and one on Monday as part of the Easter celebration. They are serious about their bank holidays here. Everything except amusement parks, video, and liquor stores seem to shut down.
So we decided to venture out to Legoland with Evan. Rachel came to stay with us for the weekend (which was great) and we chose to go on Friday since it seemed like it would have the best weather for the weekend.
Friday morning started out sunny, as we got into the car to leave it was very cold and raining. As we drove the hour to get to Legoland it went from about 40 degrees Fahrenheit to freezing to snowing within a ten mile stretch. By the time we got to Windsor it was sunny again and we had a great day at Legoland. Evan loved the train and spent about a half an hour in a Lego car that didn
't go anywhere (I guess it doesn't take much to amuse a two-year-old).We got a donut that tasted like white bread with chocolate frosting and a "New York Style" footlong hotdog which was a hotdog put on a baguette: rather disappointing. However, their chocolate dipped waffle with sprinkles was wonderful. Sean and I were reminded of a lesson we learned a long time ago and had forgotten to abide by: when traveling, don't get familiar food because it will almost always be nothing like you expect it to be.
After Legoland we decided to venture out to Windsor Castle (the official residence of the Queen and the largest inhabited castle). I was hoping to fulfill my desire to take a picture with the "puffy-hat guys" (what I like to call them). You know the guys who guard the castle and can't
smile and are in every comedy film that includes London. But NO! There were no Puffy-hat guys, just a picture! Where are you puffy-hat guys???! I've been to Buckingham Palace, I've been to Windsor Castle, where do you have to go to find them???!! It's a question that plaques my mind. I've even researched it online and have found nothing conclusive. When we reached the castle it was closed. We took some pictures (Rachel swears the "bobby" on the right of this picture kept moving over in order to be in it) and decided to walk down to Eton. Apparently the students there have to wear top hats and tails which I was equally excited about but they were not in school that day so I knew that I wouldn't see them.
About halfway there the sky went from sunny to thunder, lightning, and hail so we had to run all the way back to the car. Poor Evan was in his backpack and unprotected from the elements. (This picture is of Rachel, Sean and Evan running through the downpour).
1 comment:
You just have to be lucky to see the guards you want to see. They rotate between a lot of regiments and only some of them wear the bearskins. I was lucky enough to see the Gurkhas (from Nepal) guarding Buckingham Palace . That was cool, to see these tough Asian dudes in khaki with their famous knives.
There must be a schedule somewhere you can check.
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