Gijon, Spain

Last night when we returned to our room we found a pig sitting on the bed.

It’s amazing what they can do with towels.

All of the tours were moderately strenuous so we decided to do the town on our own.  There were free shuttles taking us into town which was nice.  The shuttles dropped us near this boat harbor.

From there it was a short walk to the center of town.  Because it was Sunday, most places were closed.  We weren’t sure if this was a church or a public building.

We came to a large open area with some restaurants that were open.

 

This statue was in the center of the area with a fountain around it.

We went through a stone archway and found ourselves in the Plaza Mayor

 

The City Hall building is at the end and was constructed in the 1800’s.

   

We walked between the buildings on the left side and found a green area with this statue.  This area looked out on the Bay of Biscaye.

There was also this a church but the trees hung over the sidewalk so far that we weren’t able to get a good picture.

We walked back down towards the harbor and took a few more pictures.

There were steps down to the water in the center of the picture.

 

We headed back to the ship for lunch.  Tonight was the first production show in the theatre.  I took only two pictures because the light was bothering Wayne.

After the show we played some blackjack and then went to bed.

Windsor Castle

At 1:30 our tour guide picked us up and we headed for Windsor Castle.  We parked the car and started walking up the hill to the castle.  These were some of the shops on the way up.

  

This building is used for a market but it is a government building and is where Charles and Camilla were married.

 

This view of the castle has a statue of Queen Victoria in front.

 

We had to walk up this hill to get to the entrance.

This is the entrance way to the castle.

This building was originally half as tall.  One of the Kings decided it wasn’t impressive enough and added the second story.  The building is only used for storage.

Once we got inside, we got a wheelchair for Wayne as there was lots of hills ahead of us.  Thankfully our tour guide offered to push.  This is looking down into the dry moat which is filled with flowers.

  

We wore our UT shirts so that we could get a picture of us for the TexasExs of Corpus Christi.

We did St. James Cathedral first as it was to be closing early today.  Unfortunately you can’t take pictures inside.  It is the rounded building on the right hand side.

These are the quarters where the retired Knights of the Garter and other retired members of the court live.

The red cross over the door is the shield of the Knights of the Garter.

This is the exit where we will leave after the tour.

We went down to the lower terrace so we could look over and see just the vantage point where soldiers who were defending the castle could see for miles.

Here is the road going up to the area of the State Apartments.

In the corner you can see the entrance to the Queen’s quarters when she is in residency.  She is said to prefer Windsor Castle to Buckingham Palace.  Here quarters are to the left an the apartments to the right are for visiting dignitaries.

We saw Queen Mary’s doll house and the state apartments and many other displays but we were unable to take pictures.  Here is another part of the Castle.

As we were heading out I saw a waterfall and I can’t pass a waterfall without taking pictures.

As we were leaving we saw three gentlemen coming out of the apartments in full dress uniform  They were retired members of the Royal Guard heading to the chapel for a ceremony to drape the chair of one of the Knights of the Garter who had passed away.

 

I got my picture taken with one gentleman.

As we left I saw this lovely lady in period costume and made Wayne pose for a picture with her.

 

Our tour guide, Jeff, went and got the car and picked us up and we headed back into London.   I took pictures on the way back.

This monument along the roadway stands on American soil that was given to us by one of the Kings.

 

This is the last munitions tower.  They used to drop molten lead from the top and by the time it got to the ground it was round and ready to use.

 

We saw very few single family free-standing homes.  Most of them are either duplexes or apartments.

 

This is Harrods, the largest department store in the UK.  We went there the last time we were in London.

     

This is one of the arches around Hyde Park.

 

We even found a BMW place right down the road from the hotel.

      

And lastly here is Wayne with our tour guide, Jeff.

London

On October 18th we flew to London from Austin, TX.  We were able to get first class seats for a very reasonable fare so we had sleepers on the trip from Houston to London.  Didn’t help much as neither of us slept.  We arrived in London at 6:45 am and a private driver picked us up and took us to the Grosvenor House. 

We didn’t realize that check out for the people in our room was not until noon so we waited around for a very long time before we were able to get in our room.  Wayne had requested a suite so here is our sitting are.

  

Here is our king sized bed.

From the bedroom looking into the sitting are.

Because we had booked a suite we had access to the Executive Lounge.  There were always goodies out on the tables.

There was a large TV and free internet service in this area.  That’s Wayne with his back to us.

Every evening they put out wine and beer in addition to the snacks.  There was always two hot dishes as well.  We never had to go anywhere else to eat.

We had planned to see the Changing of the Guard on the 19th but they only do it on even days and we had an eleven hour tour scheduled for the 20th.

We got up early on the 20th and caught a bus to Victoria Station for our tour bus.  After we got there we realized that there was no bathroom on the bus and Wayne was not going to be able to as long as they were suggesting without one.

The took us back to the hotel and hired a taxi to take us to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards. 

  

Next post will be the Changing of the Guard.