The Wandering Davidsons: Day 4 - Windsor, Costco, and the Temple

We went to Windsor on Monday to watch the changing of the guard. In the off-season, the full ceremony is only done every other day. The opposite day it's done at Buckingham Palace, and we knew we wouldn't make it in time to see it there. We got there just in time to stake out our spot a little way up the hill, so we would have a decent view. The BEST part of the whole thing was when the marching band came in! I love listening to marching bands! They even played "76 Trombones"!!! It was really cool to have seen the ceremony at least once. The bad part about Windsor is that all the really cool things, like Queen Mary's Dolls' House, the state apartments, and St. George's Church cannot be photographed. But, we saw them all and bought the book to remember. Oh, and the Queen was in residence when we first arrived! St. George's church was really cool. So many kings and queens are buried there, and Prince Charles married Camilla there. Queen Mary's Dolls' House was cool to see - even the boys liked it, but the best part was walking through the State Apartments. Since we were in a hurry to get to the courtyard for the changing of the guard, we passed on getting the free audio tours and didn't get a lot of background and history on the various rooms and furnishings, but it was fun to just walk through and read some of the plaques that were available. It also helped save time, as Hannah was outside with an unhappy L'eah and baby Barty. As it is, it still took us at least 45 minutes to get through. It was fun to see rooms that are still in use today, although they are all ceremonial rooms and not the actual rooms they sleep in. Every day they just roll up the rugs and place the ropes before people come through. Then at 5, they remove the ropes, put the carpets back, and the queen and her family use the rooms again. Amazing. When we had seen all we wanted, Hannah took the kids to the car to get them started on lunch, and Buzz and I walked around to get pictures of the front of the castle.

After we finished eating, we went to Costco!!! It was the EMPTIEST Costco I have EVER seen! In England, to get a membership, you have to work for a company that has signed up with Costco. We had a lot of fun wandering around with our drinks (that were refillable) and checking out all the similarities and differences while eating samples. I bought 2 large blocks of cheddar cheese to bring home, and also found some stuff for some friends. I think the boys each went to the bathroom twice while we were there. Apparently the lack of refills in this country has caused their bladders to shrink to the size of a pea.

On our way to the temple, Buzz was following Hannah, when she suddenly pulled over to the side of the highway. Buzz couldn't understand why she would stop there, when Nick and Chris burst out of the car, because they were about to burst. I had them come back, we opened both doors of the car, and they watered the English countryside. Did I mention that they had already gone twice at Costco? And that Nick hadn't even refilled his soda? Yeah.

Anyway, we made it to the temple! Unfortunately, the Visitor Center was closed, but we were still able to walk the grounds, and use the bathroom in the welcome center. It was cold, but it was so wonderful to walk the grounds of the temple! Even though the trees are still bare, it was beautiful with all the daffodils, and the kids loved the ducks. It would have been fun to do a session, but the temple was closed. It was a great way to finish up our day!