Getting away from London town

Once our group of 11 (me, Audrey, Harkaran, John, Laura, Meena, Matt, Natalie, Sheevam, Rahul and Yara) finally got a move on, we took the underground to waterloo station.  Here we bought train and entrance tickets to Windsor Castle (holiday residence of the Queen!).  The train took about an hour to get there. 

Once we were there, everyone was hungry so we had to find a decently priced restaurant.  I have found that is quite an elusive quality here in England.  You consider yourself lucky if you get a meal under 8 pounds (around $16).  Windsor is definitely a touristy town, but it has redeeming qualities.  There is a little river about the size of the Brazos running through it.  There were also all sorts of little shops and people everywhere. 

We actually found a decently priced place but my penne alla pesto wasn't very good.  Afterwards the bartender (you have to place orders with the bartender at the majority of English places) said he knew the pasta sucked, but couldn't tell us that before we ordered.  That irritated me because I had spent 6 pounds (around $12) on a so-so meal that could have been avoided. 

The castle itself was pretty cool.  St. George's cathedral had a lot of past kings and queens buried beneath the walkways.  Henry VIII is probably the most famous.  While I walked around there, I tried to picture what it looked like a long time ago.  There probably wasn't asphalt, manicured grass or a view towards a nuclear plant, etc. 

The inside was very ornate (as a castle should be!) and my favorite room was the queen's dressing room.  It was decorated in powder blue and gold.  They had a gallery of pictures and mementos dedicated to Prince Charles since his 60th birthday is this November.  After the castle tour, we sat on picnic benches outside and people watched.  On the train ride back to London, I got a wonderful nap.

Not much else to say other than I'm worn out from all this sightseeing!