Friday, April 17, 2009

Royal Holloway

We arrived at London Heathrow after our 10 hour flight from LA and there was our girl! She looked as beautiful as ever! So happy to see our Miranda. And as expected, our luggage did not made the flight. We were prepared for that to happen. Packed a carry-on with a days worth of clothes. No big deal. So we got on the bus to Royal Holloway to stay at the Hub on campus. This was my first view of the Founder's castle as we were walking from the bus stop. It took my breath away! Massively huge!



That's Miranda standing in front of Founders. Love her!



Our accommodations at the Hub could not have been more perfect for the three of us. It's an actual hotel on campus that has a real nice cafeteria that serves us breakfast each morning. A traditional English breakfast. OK, so let me get this out of the way... the food in England and Ireland is not so good. And that's all I got to say about that.


Anyway, after we settled in our room, we ordered a pizza and then Miranda gave us a tour of Royal Holloway. We saw her dorm room in the castle and then she told us the stories and history behind the school. (founded in 1879) We ended up cuddled on her pull-out couch, talking with her for hours, about everything under the sun. What a precious snapshot in my mind of our time together.



This is the traditional English breakfast we had our first morning. I know, a rather strange combination of foods... eggs, bacon (that tastes and looks like ham), sausage, cooked mushrooms, pork 'n beans, stewed tomatoes and toast. But real good coffee and hot tea. That helps.


Then we were off to our first day in London. But first we walked 15 minutes to the Egham, Surrey train station. What a quaint, little neighborhood we meandered through. I have a post planned just for the flower pics I took on that walk each morning.


Then we hopped on the train to Waterloo. Love traveling by train! Did you know that the only other time I have ever been on a train was the Royal Gorge Railroad in Colorado? Trust me when I say, I am now a seasoned train traveler!


Then we rode the tube into London from Waterloo. The tube is the London Underground. And the coolest way to travel. And I gotta tell you, Miranda knows her way around the transit system in London. We could see all the things we saw in 7 days because of Miranda. She got us where we needed to go because she knows her way around. And for that, we never got lost or wondered when, where and how. Not ever. Thanks Miranda!
Love this pic of Randy & Miranda getting ready to get on the tube. Be sure to click the pics to enlarge.
My next post will take you through our first day in London. Stay tuned.

5 comments:

  1. i would not be at all surprised if it turned out that you took more photos than me.
    xo

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  2. I would take the right side of Randy's breakfast plate and leave the left side. Royal Holloway is really a cool place!

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  3. The eggs, meat, and mushrooms look good - - - but what's up with beans and stewed tomatoes for breakfast???

    I stayed once in a hotel in London that served a traditional English breakfast of toast, eggs, meat - - - no beans or tomatoes there.

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  4. Thanks for sharing. The hotel was gorgeous. Yea, I've heard the food is not so hot over there. Glad you had a great time.

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  5. Just scrolled thru your posts.

    Can you believe that traditional English breakfast? Blah! I did NOT like it :)

    We so loved London, soccer, Wicked, site seeing and great food!

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