Saturday, May 9, 2009

This morning, Rick and I got up and had breakfast at our hostel. We took the tube to Paddington Station where we took a train to Windsor Castle. We took a different route than Rick had taken in the past. The train ride was faster than the other route and it also gave us a good view of the castle. We arrived at the train station and walked up towards the castle. As we got there, we noticed a large group of people along the street. We did not know what was going on but found out that we arrived just in time to see a part of the changing of the guard. We watched a band and guards parade into the castle. Rick told me that it was not as large as the one I missed at Buckingham Palace but it was still nice to see.

After the group passed, we went into the castle. It was really interesting to see. We were able to walk around the grounds, go inside the cathedral, and see the royal quarters. My favorite part was the royal quarters. We were able to see a large dining room, bedrooms of kings and queens, and other rooms. The decorations were extravagant.

After we exited the castle, we walked around to the front side to the Long Walk. This sidewalk is 2 ½ miles long and goes up to the main entrance of the castle. We stopped at a restaurant that Rick had eaten at before. We ordered chicken sandwiches. His sandwich had bacon and tomatoes and mine had sundried tomatoes and mozzarella cheese on it. Before taking the train back to London, we stopped a little candy store to get a few treats.

When we got into London, we went to the Natural History Museum for a little while. We saw many gems and minerals, some stuffed animals, an exhibit on the world, and many other things. This museum was also free. I could have stayed longer but the museum was closing for the night so we left.

Our final stop of the day was King’s Cross Train Station. We went here so I could see Platform 9 ¾ from the Harry Potter movies. As a Harry Potter fan, it was really fun to see and take pictures there. They had part of a trolley (luggage cart) attached to the wall so it looked like people were going through the wall.

Rick and I stopped at Tesco to get some sandwiches and fruit for dinner. We brought the food to our hostel and ate in the kitchen. We packed our bags that night since we had to leave early in the morning to catch our train.