Windsor Castle

Last Friday, I went with Rashmi and Siddarth to Windsor Castle. After a bit of confusion on my part about our meeting spot, we met at Clapham Junction (not to be confused with North Clapham, Clapham Common, or South Clapham stations)and took the train to Windsor. That was the day I learned how to take the bus in London.

When we arrived, the weather was looking pretty typical--rainy. Here is the Long Walk, which is, as its name implies, a long walk (3.5 miles to be exact) outside of the castle, but off the castle grounds. We were not allowed to go into the castle gardens, but we were allowed to go on the long walk. Since the weather was beautiful, we only took a short walk on the long walk, but we were impressed by its longness. The castle dates back to the medieval times and was built high on a hill, so that approaching enemies could be easily seen and also so that it would take them a long time to actually reach the castle .

On this side of the castle, we were able to look down the side of the hill and see just how high up we were. This was also where we entered the castle to see the Queen's Dollhouse and dolls as well as the state apartments, which were, appropriately, very ornate. The dollhouse is a miniature version of the castle, complete with electricity, plumbing, sterling silver dishes, tiny oil paintings done by famous artists, and a miniature version of the crown jewels. The Queen's dolls each possessed incredibly fancy doll clothes and shoes including fur wraps and jewelry.

This rounded part of the castle was extra fortified, so that the king and his people could hunker down and be very protected in the case of a particularly violent attack.

We learned all of this exciting information through our free audio guides, which looked like long, skinny cell phones. Thus, in many of these pictures, we look as though we were talking on our cell phones the entire time. In fact, cell phones were strictly forbidden inside of the buildings and so were pictures, which is why I can only share the outside pictures on my blog.

Sadly, we didn't meet the queen or even SEE the queen (except in pictures), but we did discover that veggie burgers in England come deep fried and that fish and chips are not all equal.

Thanksgiving in London

Jim was very excited about Thanksgiving. He couldn't stop dancing in anticipation.The turkey breast was pre-packaged and pre-seasoned, just like many of the foods in British supermarket. Even though Jim was skeptical, he LOVES turkey, so he trusted that Claire wouldn't poison him or make him eat aything too weird. But this turkey looked pretty weird:Jim's dancing was a little out of control, so Claire put the smack down by using her best hood (British gangsta) impersonation. Jim was SCARED so he put on a clever disguise:

Meanwhile, the beans got overcooked and the biscuits had too much salt, but the turkey roasted perfectly and, in disguise, Jim made delicious mashed potatoes, using only 2 sticks of butter.

With great anticipation, Jim carved his first "turkey" (...ummm...breast). He licked his chops and ate a piece of turkey skin with great relish. "DELICIOUS!" he said, "but not as good as my mom's."

"Well, what did you expect, " said Claire. "I could never cook like our Moms!"

Despite all that, Thanksgiving was pretty ok in London, but we would have preferred to have been at home.

"YUMMY! I LOVE MASHED POTATOES!!!"