European Vacation {Day 7} – Windsor Castle & St. Paul’s Cathedral

We were up early today to head to Windsor Castle. Windsor is outside of the city so we had to catch a train via Paddington Station.

I thought the town of Windsor was very quaint and charming.  I wished we would have had more time to wander around the streets a bit.

We had a relatively short line to enter the grounds.

We arrived in time to watch the changing of the guards, which included a band and lots of marching, stomping and yelling. We positioned ourselves right in the front of the barricade so we had the best views.

This was my first visit to Windsor and I found the Castle fascinating, perhaps because I'd done a little homework and watched the recent Royal wedding (Prince Harry & his American bride Meghan) take place there.

The doorway Prince Harry & Meghan gave their first kiss as newlyweds 

   

The interest wasn't shared by all - at one point we had one kiddo literally bored to tears and we hadn’t even entered the palace yet.  We had just finished watching the changing of the guards and walked through the chapel.  Jason asked if we were ready to go and when I told him we still had the palace to walk through.  He didn’t object or try to convince us otherwise he just quietly walked with us with tears running down his face.  He was tired, jet-lagged and the poor kid had a headache and we pushed along. Like most palaces we were allowed to take any pictures inside.  (Which at this point – 2 months later, I’m grateful for a few less pictures to edit and sort through).  We did take a small break inside the castle "family room" where Katie and Drew enjoyed coloring, Jason caught a short nap, and the rest of us rested our tired feet.  We ate a late lunch at Wagamama an Asian restaurant I’d heard great reviews on.  This was one of the few sit down restaurants we ate at the whole trip.  We really tried to eat on the cheap and eat late dinners at our flat. 

We had just enough time once back in London to check St. Paul's Cathedral off the list. The whole family climbed up 528 steps to the Golden Gallery.

Exhausted, dehydrated, and soggy we returned to the flat to shoot for a decent bedtime.

Justin, Abigail and Carly decided to rush off into the city to try to catch the London Bridge Experience before it closed.  It was a free activity on our London Passes and this would be their only time to fit it in.  Turns out it wasn’t great, but an experience nevertheless.