Weekend With the Windsors (March 31-April 1)

Every Friday night Ashlyn and I go to bed with honest ambition for an early Saturday morning start. This day was no different. And every Saturday we wake up, evaluate how little sleep we've had and go back to bed. Again, this day was no different. Typically, once we've decided to get the move on the day doesn't take to long to get started. We should have known this routine would come to and end at some point. On Friday night we both decided to forgo washing our hair as we could do it Saturday morning. Unfortunately, when we woke up Saturday morning we learned, much to our disappointment that we had no hot water. No luke warm water. Nothing but Arctic coldness from the faucet. I know this is a first world problem, but we could not leave the house until we had a shower. It just wouldn't have been fair to the public. We learned the boiler had been turned off at some point during the night and this was why the water wasn't warm. Heating appliances over here cause us nothing but confusion. First, it was the radiator which has given the four of us nothing, but grief. Mine has two settings, off or smoke out. Ashlyn's has six settings that all do the same thing. Michael's causes an unpleasant smell and Stephen's straight up doesn't work. I just sleep in layers and deal with the cold now to avoid my radiator. So the boiler was just another piece of ancient heating equipment enjoying being frustrating. When we were finally able to get our lives together and take luke warm showers we got ready and headed for the British Library.

The British Library  was something Ashlyn and I had been looking forward to as it's basically a mecca of historical documents. It's in a very unassuming building, but we assume that's because they needed an extremely impenetrable facade to hold all its contents. It's the largest library in the world (based on how much is in the collection - 150 million items) and 14 million books (only the Library of Congress in Washington, DC has more). They have an amazing 6 story glass structure that holds the 65,000 books of the "King's Library" assembled by George III and donated by George IV. They have a stamp collection where you can pull out drawers and basically see any stamp ever made (including Confederate stamps from America). Everything else they allow you to see is housed in one room. They have 2 of the remaining Magna Cartas (including the only one to still have it's seal). They even have a display of handwritten Beatles song lyrics. It's really just amazing seeing everything in there. The documents take six month "rest periods" so they can be monitored to make sure they aren't becoming compromised. It's really fascinating. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photographs inside, so I have nothing to show for my visit there.

On Sunday Ashlyn and I made the hour train trek north west of London to visit the city of Windsor and Windsor Castle. We were able to grab lunch and eat on the ride as well as getting in a quick nap. Windsor Castle is the main residence of the Queen and she was actually in house that day. Of course, us little people weren't anywhere near her and had no hope of seeing here. We also think Prince Harry was there, thus making that the closest I'll ever be to him, which is very unfortunate. The castle is so huge and opposing and looks more like the fort, which is what it was originally built to be. We were able to take a tour of the beautiful grounds with a guard. After this tour was over we were able to go inside (again, no pictures allowed). Our first stop was this amazing and huge dollhouse with full electricity built for Queen Mary. It was simply fascinating. A new exhibit focusing on mostly candid shots of the Queen was on display and really interesting. From there we were able to visit areas of the castle still used for events and just soak up the royal-ness of it all. But, like all good tourist attractions there is always someone to be obnoxious. Cue the Real Housewives of New Jersey. The world's most obnoxious family was there visiting. They knew nothing about the history of the castle, pretty sure they had never heard of the Queen and I'm not positive they knew they were in England. Thank goodness Ashlyn and I were on the tour or America would have looked like it had nothing going for it. We did meet a nice Windsor local who had came with his wife and kids. He commented that he couldn't believe the Americans hadn't invented a King and Queen, in which I had no problem reminding him that there is no point in us having one while we can enjoy theirs and let them foot the bill.

A small section of Windsor

View from atop Windsor

As we were coming to the end of our day at the castle we noticed a guard. He was the typical guard you think of with the red uniform and tall, fuzzy black hat. He had an obvious routine where he would stand still for a while and then start marching. He was also carrying a bayonet. One of my major pet peeves while traveling are foreigners who are disrespectful. To me, harassing a guard who isn't allowed to speak or smile so you can get 15 pictures is disrespectful to the United Kingdom. These Middle Eastern dudes were doing just that. Trying to get a million pics and just being obnoxious. They apparently were also too dumb to pick up on the fact that he had a marching pattern. So in a great moment, when it was time for the guard to march he turned and basically ran the rude guy over. It.was.excellent.

We grabbed dinner in Windsor and were waived across the street by a couple in a Land Rover wearing William and Kate masks, which gave us a good laugh for our hour train ride back home. Once we got on the train we made the mistake of picking a car with a "gang" on it. And when people here say gang they mean those obnoxious kids who get dropped off at the mall and congregate around the escalator. Well said kids got into a verbal fight that lasted for at least 30 minutes before a man told them to be get it together. You never know what you're gonna see on the train.

By the end of my third week in London I finally feel justified to say things like, "damn tourist" when people get in my way in Tube stations. I've also been very intrigued by the match.com/tube ads where you get three free days to find yourself a single Brit. I considering signing up, but that seemed stressful. I really feel connected to this place and at times it seems like I actually live here. It's a really weird thing to learn to get used to. Another benefit of starting to fit in? Brits and foreigners ask you for directions or to help them read their tube maps and you can do it. It's amazing, even though they often don't speak English so I'm not sure my directions helped, but I can give directions all the same. For those few fleeting, map reading moments I feel like an honorary English citizen.