Well, we’re here! At the beginning we weren’t sure we were going to make it, but all turned out for the best. As could be expected when travelling with 75 people, our flight from Nashville to Atlanta was delayed, which would have caused us to miss our connecting flight from Atlanta to London. However, in a brilliant moment of serendipity, the pilot for the second (ATL-LHR) was actually flying to Atlanta with us – they couldn’t leave for England without him, so we were safe! Many, many hours later, we landed at Heathrow and met our tour guide, Tim. He’s a fantastic fellow who knows an awful lot about his country, and who you can see below wielding a yellow flag with his name on it.
Our first (and only real) stop for the day was Windsor Castle – the summer home of the royal family. If I understood correctly, the flag flying on the top of it was an indication that the Queen was actually there at the time of our visit. After a very quick bite to eat in the train station, we made our way to St. George’s Cathedral and sang an impromptu performance of Duruflé’s Ubi caritas et amor. It was a wonderful way to begin our trip. Next, we moved on to the State Apartments, which are a picture-free zone. Basically, the rule at Windsor Castle is as such: If you don’t have sky above you, pictures aren’t allowed. It’s an interesting rule, and while sounding vague, it actually covers everything well. The Apartments were, of course, beautiful but we were so hurried through them that we didn’t really get to enjoy them. Our late flight caused all kinds of problems like that.
After the castle, we boarded the buses and made our way to the hotel in London. This was supposed to take an hour, but took almost two because of a large wreck on the motorway. We *finally* arrived, safe and sound, to check in to our rooms. The rooms here are quite similar to the rooms from the Prague/Germany trip, so how about scrolling down to one of those entries for an explanation, if you’d like one? Haha. After a quick shower (thank Jesus!), we all met in the hotel restaurant for our inaugural dinner. It was a hearty 3-course meal with several options, all of which seemed to be pretty decent. I decided on mushroom soup, lamb and veggies, and lemon meringue pie – delicious! Pair this with two glasses of (complimentary) champagne and one glass of red wine, and I’m about to crash. However, there were about 10 of us that decided to go down the street to have another drink or two before actually turning in. I had only one more drink, but made it a double – the best of both worlds, haha!
And that brings us to now. Goodnight everyone! I love you all, and I’ll see you soon! Thanks for reading! ~AJR
3 comments:
Lemon meringue pie sounds MARVELOUS!!!
That sounds so cool about Windsor Castle! Wish I could be there, too... This trip you're taking sans moi is difficult b/c of my anglophilia lol
Love the pics btw! lol Cute pic of Rachel
Hooray England posts!!! :D
I'm working on a new
Blogspot blog. It's almost done. I added you to my Blog list on the side.
OK so fungus soup????I might actually try that if there werent like massive pieces of fungus in it lol......although I agree with Ben that the Pie sounds wonderful! Glad you guys made it there all together and in one piece.....have fun!
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