Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace

Towns go crazy with Christmas decor in England. Here is a tree in the middle of a busy road in Windsor.


Blue lights are more popular here than back at home. Red lights are less popular. If you can't tell, the tree has only blue lights.

If you asked the Queen where her home is, she would say "Windsor Castle". Apparently that's common knowledge but I didn't know until today.


Windsor Castle is huge, this is only a small part of it. The Queen was not there today (it was State Opening of Parliament, so she was actually in London). No photography allowed inside. I was most impressed by the chandeliers.

In between Windsor Castle and Hampton Court I had the best eggs benedict. I don't remember if I reported about the amazing poached eggs and toast in Durham, but I'm beginning to understand that they know how to poach an egg in this country. Why did I not learn this earlier?!

There were virtually no other tourists at our destinations, which was nice. The downside was the light renovation going on at Hampton Court, but that didn't get in the way too much.


Hampton Court Palace.

Inside the main entrance a large clock is on display. It is exquisite and old (no surprises there). It displays not only the time, but the moon phase, the zodiac calendar, the season, and of course, the sun revolving around the earth! Now that is old.


The center of the a clock is a circle that represents the earth, and the sun can be seen on the rotating clock hand.

Too funny:


Anne Boleyn egg cup anyone?

Dad, I thought you might like the way these trees were groomed -


Backyard of the palace.

I then had a chance to go through the famous hedge maze. It's possible that I pretended I was Harry Potter in the final scenes of book 4.


"People change in the maze. Oh, find the cup if you can. But be very wary; you could just lose yourselves along the way."

I love HP too much. I'm still upset they moved the next movie back just to make more money, but I digress.

The drive back from our excursions is always prime nap time, especially since it's now midnight at 4pm. When I groggily opened my eyes on the bus today, I awoke to the view from the east side of the Thames River driving towards central London. I admired a glowing Big Ben, Parliament, and London Eye. We crossed the river and continued north on Whitehall, driving past Trafalgar Square, which now displays the annual Christmas Tree given to England by Norway. We continued up Charing Cross Road, a busy street lined with book stores and music venues and packed with people of all kinds. Finally, we turned onto Great Russell Street.

I've spent most of my time in London missing home. And recently, with the days getting shorter, the weather getting nastier, and Thanksgiving coming and going, I've only been missing Florida more. Today on the bus, I realized for the first time that this city has become a good friend to me, and I will miss it.

Luckily, it didn't take a trip home to realize this, and I have 8 full days to say goodbye.