The London Blog #6

Took sooooo many pictures today! About 70 to be exact!

This morning, I had breakfast at my hotel (good food, and included with my room, unlike the other crappy hotel!) Then, I took the Paddington train out to Windsor-Eton Central, to see Windsor Castle. It's really pretty amazing, and the town of Windsor is very pretty. She was home (the flag was flying atop the round tower). I took lots of pics here. 

Saw the changing of the guard. A whole band plays while they change, both before and after.

After Windsor Castle, I hopped back on the train, and instead of heading back into the city at Slough, I went west toward Reading, which is where Jack is from. I could see enough from the train journey that I made him from the right place!  After my exploration of Reading, I went out to Basildon Park, which was used as Netherfield Hall in Pride & Prejudice.  After I got off the train, I had to take a bus to a stop which is near the entrance, and the bus driver sent me the wrong way when I got off the bus. I ended up walking around the backside of the grounds (up hill all the way), then finding a back gate, which is actually the exit and said no entry, but I walked in anyway, because I wasn't about to walk all the way back.  Turns out that bus stop was only a few hundred yards from the entrance and I walked about 8 miles out of my way the way he sent me! But I did get a lovely walk through the woods and grounds (and more blisters on my feet, plus it was drizzling and about 55 degrees and I had short sleeves!)  And finally, stumbled upon the place.  The first thing I encountered was the Pride & Prejudice exhibition. Spent about 20 minutes in that room reading a lot of stuff I sorta knew already.  Here's Matthew's bio/pic that's on display there:

 Then I toured the house.  Here are some highlights:

A lot of it is under construction, but it was still great to see it!  I took a lot of pictures here because Jack's fictional house would have been built about the same time. This is the grand staircase, which looks much bigger in the movie! 

This is the dining room and it took me a minute to figure out that they actually shot the dance sequences in this room. Again, much tinier than it looks on screen (that's always the case, actually).

This is a really cool bedroom and it's like a little side part of the room with this funky carved ceiling. I thought it was pretty and would have been something like Jack's mother's room. Those are fur coats on the bed.

This cracked me up!  When we were kids, we made a tree chair out of plaster for one of the sets on one of the shows I was in - my brother worked tech crew and somehow, he got to take the tree chair home with him and it was in our house for years! Anyway, when I was leaving, I was walking down a path with this "tree chair" and I had to take a pic for Alden!

After I left, I went back to that bus stop and there was no schedule for that direction, so I wasn't sure when it would, but i was guessing it'd be about an hour. So I went into a convenience store and he gave me a number for a taxi. I didn't want to walk - it was another 3 miles back to the train, and my feet really hurt! Unfortunately, the taxi couldn't come for an hour. I went back in and asked if he knew another taxi company, and he didn't, so I went back outside and of course, the bus went flying by! I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't stop, even with me running down the street shouting at him!  So I called the taxi company back and said come when you can get here, and this really nice guy (and very cute!) who was pumping his petrol overheard me and offered me a ride to the train station! I was so relieved and grateful! When I offered to give him some money for gas he told me, "Don't be daft!" We talked a lot about LA (he's been there, plus San Diego & Vegas) and how he likes San Diego best. Very cute guy, too! Wish I had taken a picture of him!

So, I came back to Paddington and had a little stuffed chicken breast (and a glass of wine) for dinner at an Italian place on the way back. Now I am soaking my very sore feet!

Tomorrow, I will finally ride the London Eye!  Although, of course it's supposed to rain.  I'm going to go down to Mayfair for a bit, then out to Twickenham, where Jack's sister lives, and then ride the Eye, and then I'm meeting somebody before the play for dinner at 6 in front of the theatre.  Good times...