UK Trip: Windsor

I feel the need to confess: after Shannon's sweet comment about my Salon l'Agriculture post, I felt guilty that most of my pictures have not actually been edited lately... How so many mom "hobbyist" photographers manage what they do, I have NO idea. I just feel good if I manage to remember my one-photo-a-week challenge and MAYBE find my cord to upload them before Saturday (which is why I was scouring the house at 10pm last night, only to discover it this morning exactly where I had thought it would be and had looked three times - am I going BLIND?!?!). Anyway, my ramblings are simply my disclaimer that the following posts will not be edited, but I hope you can still enjoy pictures of our most recent adventure.

Since Chris travels to the UK regularly for work, we had been talking for some time about taking Oliver for a few days. Chris' office is just outside of London, near Windsor, so that's where we started. Then, since Oxford is just two stops on the train up the road, we spent one night there and wandered around that great epicenter of learning. And, as a bonus, we have friends who live in Cambridge, so we combined our little trip with a visit to see them. A bit much to cover in four days, probably, but truly a delightful little jaunt across the Channel.

We started with a morning Eurostar through the Chunnel. I have to brag on the Eurostar employees: they have been so kind to us, both in the station and getting onto the train. As we boarded the train, the woman checking our tickets told us that there was a free four-person table at the back of the car that we could have since we had the baby. She even changed our tickets to reflect the change. And Oliver loved the table:

Forgive the poor quality of this photo, but Oliver has been giving kisses recently, and this is our first time to catch it on camera (since I'm the photographer normally)... of course it's with an iphone in a dark, bouncing train. But better than nothing!

Anyway, after arrival in London, a metro ride to another station, a Burger King lunch (since we just missed the train and had to wait 45 minutes for the next one), and a short train ride out to Slough (home of the BBC's "The Office," by the way), and a taxi to the hotel, Oliver and I were ready for a walk. So we decided to take the hour-long walk from Old Windsor (where our hotel was) to Windsor, where the famous castle is. The walk was gorgeous. We passed the Thames:

Then we had a short ugly walk down a little highway... But as we turned, we had the most gorgeous stroll past royal lands, with the castle in the distance:

And gorgeous farmland on the other side:

As we approached the town, the views of the castle and the manicuring of the land became more impressive:

Eventually, we took the formal stretch leading up to Windsor Castle:

Where Oliver humored me by allowing me to take a million pictures of him:

We passed by the castle without visiting, though, because Chris and I visited last time we were in Windsor.

We did, however, wander through the town and enjoy the cute little shops and restaurants while we waited for Chris to finish work. When he did, he met us for dinner at Wagamama's, where they have these really cool high chairs that Oliver loved:

Oliver's first day in the UK was definitely a success!