Kicking It Off Proper, With The Queen
The flight to London was pretty decent. It was ultra-short at just over 6 hours...long enough for me to watch three movies. I don't sleep well on planes, so I find it best if I don't try.
We got into London, the weather was awesome. We were tired pretty much all day after flying all night. After checking into the Hilton at Gatwick, we went off to see the Windsor Castle. The Queen happened to be staying there this week, so we even got to see her shuttle off in her entourage of Bentleys. She waived and I am pretty sure I have a few decent pictures of it, though I have to unload for sure.
The caste was impressive. It doesn't have that ancient feel to it like a lot of the German castles I've been to because it is so up-scale. It is a lot more like a palace ground that just happens to have stone walls. The rooms are all over-the-top embellished, the artwork collection is impressive and the landscaping is lovely.
The highlight of the castle, in my opinion, was the weapon collection. The queens of past have had numerous fantastical weapons, jewels, masks, armors, etc. bestowed upon them as gifts from around the world over the centuries. My favorite two pieces were:
We got back to the hotel at 6pm and were exhausted, so went to bed. Consequently, I slept really well for 8 hours and woke up at 2am ready to go for the day. Here I am now, having paid for internet because the hotel didn't have free internet, using my minutes.Tangent: I don't know why any non-budget hotel wouldn't have free wireless. It costs virtually nothing to maintain/offer, yet it is one of the most valuable amenities to traveling patrons. I don't need the tv. I need the internet. Having to pay $5 for an hour of access is ludicrous and simply leaves a bad experience. The ROI of making patrons pay is simply not there if you are inciting your visitors to find alternate accommodations on their return. I just don't get it. This isn't the 1990s people. Routers don't cost $700 anymore.
In a couple hours we leave for Salzburg. Fortunately, our hotel is connected to the airport so we need only walk to the terminal. We'll do some casual tourism today, the wedding tomorrow, then the bulk of the Austrian tourism on Sunday and Monday before grabbing a train to Slovenia.
Later!
We got into London, the weather was awesome. We were tired pretty much all day after flying all night. After checking into the Hilton at Gatwick, we went off to see the Windsor Castle. The Queen happened to be staying there this week, so we even got to see her shuttle off in her entourage of Bentleys. She waived and I am pretty sure I have a few decent pictures of it, though I have to unload for sure.
The caste was impressive. It doesn't have that ancient feel to it like a lot of the German castles I've been to because it is so up-scale. It is a lot more like a palace ground that just happens to have stone walls. The rooms are all over-the-top embellished, the artwork collection is impressive and the landscaping is lovely.
The highlight of the castle, in my opinion, was the weapon collection. The queens of past have had numerous fantastical weapons, jewels, masks, armors, etc. bestowed upon them as gifts from around the world over the centuries. My favorite two pieces were:
- A lock with booby-trap guns inside it. If you tamper with the lock without the proper key, you get shot. Simple enough.
- A spiked club. It wasn't bejeweled or anything, but it looked like one of the more painful things to encounter.
We got back to the hotel at 6pm and were exhausted, so went to bed. Consequently, I slept really well for 8 hours and woke up at 2am ready to go for the day. Here I am now, having paid for internet because the hotel didn't have free internet, using my minutes.Tangent: I don't know why any non-budget hotel wouldn't have free wireless. It costs virtually nothing to maintain/offer, yet it is one of the most valuable amenities to traveling patrons. I don't need the tv. I need the internet. Having to pay $5 for an hour of access is ludicrous and simply leaves a bad experience. The ROI of making patrons pay is simply not there if you are inciting your visitors to find alternate accommodations on their return. I just don't get it. This isn't the 1990s people. Routers don't cost $700 anymore.
In a couple hours we leave for Salzburg. Fortunately, our hotel is connected to the airport so we need only walk to the terminal. We'll do some casual tourism today, the wedding tomorrow, then the bulk of the Austrian tourism on Sunday and Monday before grabbing a train to Slovenia.
Later!