She was like a princess straight from a dreamy castle in the air

So today we visited another place where the queen lives sometimes, the Windsor Castle...aka my future home :D It was about almost a two hour drive and most of us dozed off because we had to meet at 8:30 (of course i was the last one downstairs haha) We got there and had to hurry up and get our tickets to get in the castle because we really wanted to see the changing of the guard at 11. The security was pretty much like an airport and we had to go through metal detectors and have our bags scanned. I don't know why, but i always get nervous walking through the detectors, even though i don't have anything illegal in my pockets. I usually hold my breath when i walk through. Anyway, we went through security and all that and made our way to where the changing of the guard was happening. I was so excited to see the guards actually wearing the funny fuzzy hats because we had missed them at Buckingham Palace a couple weeks ago. When i first saw them, i just had to laugh (as did most of my group) because they looked so hilarious with those hats on! I decided that they looked like Qtips. My friend told me that they were made out of bear fur which made me really want to touch one because they looked sooo soft! Some of the guards looked like they could have been in high school and were really short and awkward :) I took a picture of one because i couldn't even see his eyes! Well, they stood there for a bit and did some routine marching things and then a band came into the courtyard. They were all dressed in red coats and had their own funny hats (wouldn't want to be left out i guess) & they played a couple songs and marched around. Then more guards came out and marched with swords and yelled some stuff that sounded like another language (special guard code language perhaps?). Probably the funniest part - okay i shouldn't be laughing, it probably had a lot of historical significance, but it was hilarious - was when they would all march in a big pack, stomp their feet, and then shuffle with really really small steps to the side. I really wish you could have seen it because we couldn't help but laugh out loud! It just all looked so silly with their fuzzy Qtip hats and shuffling all around. After we stood there for awhile watching and then left for St Paul's Cathedral because it was closing at 1pm today. I got super excited when i found out that it was closing early because of a wedding!! :D & i decided after seeing how beautiful it is, that that's where Prince Harry and i will get married. Well, either that or Westminster Abbey ;) I'll let him decide. When we got there, we were given headsets so that we could hear all about the history of the cathedral, which was actually pretty cool. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside (and i didn't sneak any this time) but it was absolutely beautiful! I could have stared at the ceiling alone for hours, with its intricately decorated arches covered in gold trims. The cathedral had such historical significance, containing tombs of past rulers and military leaders and artifacts from hundreds of years ago. It was killing me that i couldn't take any pictures! :( Well after we stayed in there for awhile, we all realized how hungry we were, so we set off to find a good place to eat. We walked all over and some places were too busy, some were way to expensive, and some had pictures of naked people on the walls (yeah, you think I'm kidding...there were even little children eating in there!). Eventually, we found this little pub, which turned out to be really good! After eating a delicious meal and relaxing for a bit, we ventured out again into the sunshine & blue skies on our way to the castle. We had to go through security again and we got our headsets back. The first place we went was into the room that held the queen's dollhouse. This was the coolest thing because it wasn't meant for little children, but actually the queen collected miniature items and were placed into this dollhouse. It had working plumbing (!), wooden tables and chairs, a tiny piano, electric lamps, tiny plates and silverware, and anything else you could imagine. It was soo cool! Brittany snuck some pictures in there so check her facebook soon ;) After that, we went into the state apartments which is the part of the castle that is actually used. We still couldn't take any pictures, and i cant really describe how gorgeous each room was. The history of everything was overwhelming, with the original paintings, chairs, tables, and decorations that were there hundreds of years ago. Everything was ornately decorated with gold and classical paintings of past rulers and children of the kings. I really wish i could have taken pictures because i feel like i cant even start to talk about it. The coolest part for me was getting to this one room with a big dining table because it is actually used now by the queen to entertain really important leaders and royalties (I'll be there someday ;) Well, after spending a lottt of time in the castle, we realized that we were almost out of time and had to start heading back to the bus. The blue sky made a great backdrop for all the pictures i took walking back :)

I had a nice little nap on the way home because i was exhausted (staying up till 2:30am the night before wasn't a great idea). We came home and Suzie made our favorite meal, chicken ceasar wraps, which were sooo yummy :) Then Hannah, a girl from our flat, invited us to a water polo match because she knows someone on the team. So we walked over to the pool, which was past our FCH campus a little ways, and cheered on our colleges team :) It was cool because i had never seen water polo before, but i still don't quite understand all the rules. Seeing tons of boys in speedos was a bit awkward though. Yuck. Anyway, it was fun and we laughed the whole way back to our dorm, where we cleaned up the dishes from dinner and all went back to our rooms to relax. I'm probably gonna watch a movie soon & then head to bed early because Brittany & i are trying a new church in town so we have to leave a bit earlier. Goodnight! :D