Day 5, Virginia Water

Can you guess which camera took this picture (That is Kaylee's camera pictured)? We will give you a hint. We realized yesterday that Simon's camera requires a different cable than Kaylee's to upload pictures. If you haven't guessed it look below...

Enter ... Kaylee's new camera! Among other, more enjoyable, things in the last two days we dropped a camera and about $200 as a result. :(

Yesterday (8/15), we got up early and were rewarded with a surprisingly good continental breakfast at the Park Lodge Hotel. Back in the room after breakfast we found some of our cotton clothing items still damp from their first hand washing the night before. A few minutes with the hairdryer got them dry enough to pack. Checking out of the hotel at 9:30 we caught the tube in hopes of reaching Buckingham Palace by 10:00 in order to see the changing of the guards. Arriving just after 10:00 at the opposite side of St. James park we might have caught the end of it had we not stopped to take pictures of the pelicans that were swimming in the park. (Simon later had the opportunity to pet one on the head!) Although we missed the changing of the guards the palace was still quite impressive. We decided not to tour it due to the 100+ people in line and £17/each price tag.

Leaving the palace we stumbled upon the headquarters of the British Military and WWI memorial. While there a small military horse demonstration took place, although interesting about 400 people had already gathered so it was a bit crowded and hard to see.

Our next stop was Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. The square was in the midst of setting up for a show so it was not as picturesque as imagined, but the gallery was free so we hurried in. We made it the second step past the enterancebefore getting turned around due to the size of our bags. Not wanting to look for a place to stash them we moved on.

The Tower of London and the Tower Bridge were our next destinations. Both were fun and impressive, with a "knight" demonstrating a trebushe (spelled wrong) and other midevalweapons. Unfortunately, the Tower of London was the last sight Kaylee's blue camera will ever see. While attempting to hand it to Simon (without his full knowledge) he turned and proceeded to spike the camera out of Kaylee's hand and into the concrete ground...Game Over! Landing lens side down with it open and extended the whole zoom lens was bent and jammed. The camera's electronics still functioned, but the unending "Lens Error" told the whole story.

After regrouping mentally and agreeing that we need to work on our handoffs we moved on to St. Paul's Cathedral. Another massive architectural masterpiece. We ate lunch across the street at Rouge Cafe, a french restaurant. Getting directions from our waitress we left lunch in search of a camera shop. A few blocks, half and hour, and £119 later Kaylee had a new camera. Having spent our money for the day (and next, and next after that) and energy we headed to Waterloo station to catch our first train.

We caught the to Virginia Water without much trouble (discounting the 45 minutes spent in the travel center trying to figure out our passes). Getting off the train with 5 others was a nice change from the 500 in London. Deb Towner (Kaylee's, aunt's friend) met us at the station and gave us a ride out to her big beautiful home. We spent the rest of the night talking and eating the wonderful meal she made for us.

Today, after an excellent rest in a real bed, Deb drove us through her lovely town and on to Windsor Castle. The architecture was amazing and the wood carving and stone work is beyond belief. We spent the majority of the day there along with the town of Windsor nextdoor. We had a traditional pastery for lunch, a ham and cheese calzone like food. It was very good and not to expesive. Catching the train back from Windsor we made it in time to head to the local pub (no more that three blocks away) for dinner. It was good food and nice to be surrounded by locals after a day of weaving in and out of tour groups. After dinner we strolled through a local green space that was at least 20 acres and we had the whole place to ourselves to watch the sun set.

Talking with Deb we have changed our plans for the next stop. Originally we were headed go Cardiff from here, but it sounds a bit industrial for us so our new plan is to catch a longer train up to Liverpool and then spend the next day exploring in the mountainous coastal area of northern Wales.

Both of the pics below are from Windsor Castle.

P.S. I am having trouble with the spell check, so anything that appears to be spelled wrong is more likely just an English spelling of the word.

Simon and Kaylee