Windsor, arrival in London



England Day 5:  We got started later than I wanted because it took a while for breakfast, to pay up and get loaded up in the car.  It kind of mattered because we got to London later than I really wanted.  But we got there!

We said goodbye to Sue at Cornerways and beautiful Bath.  This city really impacted all of us and we talked about returning there in the near future.  Nephew talked about looking into study abroad programs that might help him get to Bath while in college. 

View of the road from our room at Cornerways

The GPS programmed for Windsor Castle, we were off.  It took a good two hours driving to get to the parking lot at the foot of the Castle.  It was very pricy to park (I knew there was a cheaper option a little further away but here is where that late start first cost us) so we paid up for three hours.  We hiked up to the Castle just in time to see the finale of the Changing of the Guard so I know it was 1130am!  It was pretty cool to see the Guards marching by playing music but it’s not something for which any of us would want to wait hours.

The ticket line was long, 45 minutes.  I hadn’t prebooked because it was expensive and I couldn’t be 100% sure beforehand that we would make it there.  The guard would come out periodically to move people who had prebooked to the much shorter line and we were all seriously jealous.

Our view as we waited in the long line

Once paid up, security checked, audio guide working, we started our tour of this magnificent castle.  The Queen’s flag was flying and it was pretty exciting to be touring “her” house while she was home.  By time we left, her flag had been replaced with the Union Jack.  She didn’t even tell us bye bye (sniff).

The Queen's flag flying

I won’t bore you with descriptions of Windsor Castle. It’s simply magnificent in every way.  Husband and I thought Buckingham Palace was the prettiest castle we’d ever seen, until Windsor.  It’s spectacular.  The audio guide was very well done and even though it was very crowded, we didn’t feel overwhelmed by the masses, except in the Dollhouse rooms.  No photos allowed inside-which I didn’t realize (hence the ones of the Dollhouse and Dolls, sorry) until we go to the first State Room. 

The Dollhouse was so intricate and detailed



Beautiful tableware.  This is where I realized NO photos! Sorry



We loved all the State Rooms particularly the Waterloo Room, the massive St. George’s Hall and the spectacular Crimson Room with its gold and chandeliers.  Nephew asked the guard in the Crimson Room if the gold was “really gold” and it was “really gold leaf.”  He started calculating how much everything cost and how rich the royals are.  We couldn’t come up with a realistic number. We were awed by St. George’s Chapel and were lucky to hear the end of an organ recital. 

St. George's Chapel

Our parking was about expired so we hightailed it back to the car.  We were hungry so we stopped in Datchet at the Royal Stag for lunch.  It was good pub food, maybe a little fancier than what we’d gotten used to. 

After lunch, we easily found the Hertz rental car agency but it was bit more of a struggle to find the gas station to fill up.  Once we arrived at Hertz, the agent was very nice, looked over the car and said they’d be no extra charges for anything (as it should be since we didn’t cause any damage and we returned the car full).  I ran inside to use the wifi (Skype app) to let our apartment greeter know we were at LHR and would be taking the train in to London.  We were running late...

The process of taking the tube into London was really very easy.  We bought Oyster Cards for all of us with enough money to get us there and back.  Nephew’s had extra for daily travel.  Husband and I would be buying 7 day Travel Cards for the 2 4 1 offers.

We got on the Piccadilly Line with plans to get off at Hammersmith.  But the train kept stopping short of the stations.  It was stifling hot.  We were sweaty, tired and disgruntled.  Now, we’re from New Orleans, Louisiana—it routinely gets into the 90’s F (32-36C) with high humidity (anywhere from 70 to 100%) during the summer.  We are used to hot.  We are not used to being in hot, enclosed places without AC!  So as the Piccadilly line seemed to be having trouble, we opted to get out at Acton Town and transfer to the District Line to Victoria (our destination).  This worked out well—no steps to speak of, except that this train, too, kept stopping short of the platforms.  What should have taken 45-60 minutes, took over 1.5 hours.  We were never so happy to see the Victoria!

We dragged our bags the 3-4 blocks to our apartment on Palace Street and were met by the lovely Ricardo.  He looked at us pityingly because we were all flushed from the heat.  He showed us around the beautiful apartment, explained how everything worked, made sure the wifi was connected, found a second fan and set it up, and recommended we stay outside the next day because it was projected to be hotter than today.  He also recommended nephew try pear cider which proved to be his favorite drink (I liked it a lot, too).

The apartment is https://londonconnection.com/property/2-23-palace-street/   It has two bedrooms and two baths.  It’s in an L formation.  As you walk in, the large, master bath is the first room you come to, then the kitchen. Across from the kitchen is the combo living and dining.  Down the hall into the L are the two bedrooms, both about the same size.  The first bedroom was twins made into a king which we gave to nephew because the bath was down the hall.  The other bedroom had a good sized queen with a very small ensuite bath.  The shower stall was a good size but the sink was a terrible design and the water went all over the floor when it was being used.  It really needs to be changed for something less “pretty” and more functional.  This room overlooked an interior courtyard and was very quiet at night.  Other that the non-functional sink,  we had no complaints.  We liked the apartment, the location, the ease of working with londonconnection both in the States and in London, and the price.  If we were going with another couple, we definitely would consider staying there again.

Our bedroom 

Our ensuite with terrible sink

Comfy living and dining 

Living and dining

Good sized kitchen

Big main bathroom

Bedroom faced this inside courtyard

Husband had loved Nobu when we went there on a visit to Hawaii so I was happy to find it in London.  I choose the Berkeley  location because it was marginally closer to our apartment and got good reviews.  We arrived at 840 for our 830 reservation and were seated at a terrible table for two with an extra stool in the walkway.  It was also a very warm table due to its proximity to the kitchen.  Not good. Not acceptable.  We asked for a different table and were offered another small table by the sushi bar.  We were not going to pay Nobu’s extreme prices to sit at the first table so got up and looked at the second and decided to stay.  This was not an auspicious beginning. 

It took awhile for things to get better.  The waiters (and there were tons of them) didn’t seem to understand that we wanted tap water and took about 15 minutes to bring us a bottle of Fuji which we rejected.  It took another 10 minutes to get tap water.  Someone took our drink orders and the drinks came out eventually.  Finally, a David Beckham lookalike waiter (from Italy) took over and the service improved dramatically.  I don’t  know his name but he redeemed Nobu for us.  The food was delicious, possibly better than in Hawaii, and we ended up having a very nice evening.

Avocado salad-sensational!


Nephew's chicken teriyaki

We walked through St. James Park and saw floodlit Buckingham Palace on our way back to the apartment where we crashed.  It had been a long, hot, but enjoyable day and night.  We were in London!

Beautiful sky on our walk back to Palace St.

Next:  Seriously hot, long lines, a little history and some tennis.