Tag: Windsor

A Day Out in Windsor + Royal Wedding Viewing – May 19th 2018

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Day off from driving… I get to have my life back for a while…

Ooooo, it’s May 2018, and the anticipated Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and no longer actress Meghan Markle has arrived. Let’s hope this marriage will last forever. 🙏

Mrs Hen is a Royal fanatic (I am not). She loves the Royal family! OMG. She even made her way to see Prince William and Kate’s wedding (sorry for the informalities here, but they are roughly in the same age group as me 😉). Mrs Hen was so happy that the wedding was on a weekend, that she made me book train tickets in advance, however she had no one to go with. Mr Hen and her son said no thanks, hahahah!! And it was only who was left. She’s never been to Windsor by the way, and the last time I went there was a few years back when Miss Pinky, Master H and I went to Legoland. That’s like 6 years ago! Time flies!

First thing we did was get up early, shower and eat breakfast, then meet at Waterloo… We both got there early, so we jumped onto an earlier train… And arrived at 9.22am in Windsor and Eton Riverside. (Mrs Hen made me take this picture…).

The broadcasting teams are already in their high decked platforms.

Signs were already in place! My, my, the wedding planners thought of everything!!

Houses were already decorated with Harry and Meghan…

And finally passing security, which was practically a nightmare… They should’ve added more barriers if they didn’t want the public to walk on the roads. The long walk was already filled with people, but I’m thankful we got there early, and I had to stop Mrs Hen from entering a few shops on the way!!

The wedding went quite quickly, I sat through most of the ceremony, as I couldn’t see the screen or hear what was going on, so decided I would re-watch clips later on.

Ceremony over! And time for the long walk for the newlyweds… It was so hard trying to get to the front!!

I kept snapping, and snapping but my eyes could only see a sea of hands in the air and cameras… and people deafening my ears with their screams. I thought I missed the opportunity, but I scrolled though my pictures again (later in the day) and spotted this one…

Oh, I caught them on camera!! 😯 Did I actually catch Meghan waving at us?! 😯😯 No waaaay!!!

Close up. It looks like I photoshopped this, but I absolutely did not retouch the pictures!!

Got the back of their heads…

Time to flee the scenes… It was so hard to get out of the area. People started complaining at how disorganised security were with us fleeing the scene! I think they should have treated this like a football or rugby event and let us go.

Well, now back in town. Mrs Hen enjoyed ourselves but also became so tired… We ended up in the pub next to the station… We were practically tipsy after a pint of cider and a pint of Guiness. 😅

Time to head back with a lot of people. Kind of glad we went to see the Royal Wedding of the year (sorry Eugenie, won’t be attending your wedding). Lots of friends probably thought we were crazy to go in this crowd… 😆😆😆
Let’s hope Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis marry in their early twenties!

Windsor-Heathrow Marriott Hotel – The Geek Gets Lost

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I hate getting lost! (I think I’ve mentioned this before when I went out egg hunting)… It’s so time costly! 😦 


So why was I at Heathrow, Langley and almost Slough? I’ve just been on a residential course with the OU and I’m sure I did my research on how to get there, but I got lost because 1. I got the wrong hotel as there are two in the area. 2. The bus drivers weren’t that helpful – I got more of the passengers to help me out! And 3. It wasn’t indicated on the OU information sheets… 😦

So where is the hotel you say? It’s in Langley, which is in between Heathrow and Slough. It’s called the Windsor-Heathrow Marriott Hotel. So if you’re going via public transport – it’s very difficult to get to! But here’s how I got there… After arriving at the wrong hotel on Bath Road, I was told to get the number 81 bus towards Slough, which I did, but the problem was that, whilst on the bus, there was no sign or stop to say Marriott Hotel / Ditton Road! So I was a few stops down the road already, and had to get another bus back. This time I asked the bus driver where to get off… But he actually didn’t tell me (because I think he was going to tell me to get off at Bath Road again!!!!!!). The passengers were the only ones who knew the area well enough to tell me where to get off… Thank you people of Heathrow, Langley and Slough! So once again, I had to cross over to the opposite bus stop and get another bus (number 77 – the 81 was taking a long time) – it was only one bus stop and I had to pay £1.80 😦 … Just to let you know, there is no direct bus from Heathrow Central Bus Station.

I finally got there after 3 hours of travel (when it should have been 2)!… So I was VERY late… But not the last person to arrive as the hotel receptionist told me! ^^ 
Windsor-Heathrow Marriott Hotel on Ditton Road, Langley
The en-suite room
Bathroom

It may have been a challenge to get to the hotel, but at least I had dinner (only 15 minutes of it).
Mini-Shepherd’s Pie with veggies
Here’s my breakfast the next morning…
Fry-up breakfast
Bowl of fruit ^^
My lunch. Can you tell what it is? The picture is all blurred…
Noodles, cauliflower, roast potatoes and I think there’s fish cake
My worthy dinner… (all the vegetables were taken!).
Lamp chop, fish with a pepper sauce and a stuffed pepper with cous-cous
I didn’t take a picture of my final breakfast (it’s the same as above but with mushrooms), and I forgot to sign up for the final lunch! 

So now it’s on with revision. My exam is in a month’s time!! 
Geeky information:
Hotel Address: Windsor-Heathrow Marriott Hotel, Ditton Road, Langley – Slough, SL3 8PT
Telephone: 01753 544 244

How to get there by PUBLIC TRANSPORT (this is not on the hotel’s website):
1. If you are arriving from Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3, the best way to get there is actually go towards Bath Road  from the Bus Station (Bus 105, 111, 140, 285). I suggest getting off at New Road, cross the road and get the number 81 bus. Then get off at High Street Langley bus stop. The hotel is on the left hand side as you get off… 
When going back to the Tube Station (Terminals 1, 2, 3), get on the 81, and again stop at New Road, cross the road, but this time take the 105, 111, 140 or 285 to Heathrow Central.

2. From Heathrow Terminal 5 – get the number 77 bus (but unfortunately you have to pay, because they don’t accept Oyster cards). Then you get off at the same bus stop – High Street Langley!!

Windsor Castle

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This is going to be a fairly short post. As I went to Windsor, I took a picture of Windsor Castle on my way home to share… The Queen was not in by the way 😛
Side view of Windsor Castle


Here’s also the shopping arcade. Miss Pinky wants to go back there in September to start her Christmas shopping!!! 😦 It’s almost Christmas already!!!
Windsor Royal Shopping Arcade


LEGOLAND – Windsor

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LEGOLAND. Originally from Denmark (which I didn’t know until a work friend pointed it out!). I actually never knew LEGO came from Denmark… (that shows my ignorance on where things come from!). I have never been to LEGOLAND before, but an opportunity struck when Miss Pinky’s little brother, Master H, had to write a 50-word summer project for his school! (Yes, you read right, 50 words!). (This paragraph contains 73 words in total!).
Forgot to take a picture from the front!!


So you could imagine what Master H wanted to do during this summer. Yep. Go to LEGOLAND! And that’s where we went. If it’s your first time, expect to be spending around £100+ per adult (entry fee, train ticket, food, drinks and most likely LEGO toys in the end!). But if you can find special vouchers – then definitely use them! National Rail has a special 2 FOR 1 voucher where you just pay for one adult fee plus rail tickets. Get it now before the offer ends towards the end of the year!!!


Saturday 18th August had to be one of the hottest days of the year in England! 😦 And queuing for rides in this heat is not fun! Plus it was the weekend! And of course it’s the summer holidays for school children… Master H and I went on 6 rides, and Miss Pinky decided to skip 3 of them and continue reading her book… So I did most of the babysitting! 😛
Ride 1 – not very good, sprinklers wasn’t working! 😦

Ride 2 – an ok experience, it will get your tummy swirling around


Forgot to take a picture of Ride 3 but that was a really fun one!
Ride 4 – This was fun! 


By Ride 5 I was exhausted and didn’t like this 90 minute wait (it was about an hour) for a 3 minute ride to get splashed!

Ride 5 – 90 minute wait!!!!! Not impressed!!!

Ride 6 – Short but sweet


Here’s some pictures of around LEGOLAND…
Star Wars ^_^

R2D2

Massive Dragon!

The Pirates!

A Knight and Dragon

Don’t forget to recycle!

Miss Pinky was so happy with this PINK LEGO…

£6 bottle that you can get refilled all day long!

Fire Station

These guys are funny 🙂

The loo signs! Hahahahah

Miniland!!

Miniland – Covent Garden


Miniland – London!

Unfortunately we didn’t go everywhere, so I missed out on the driving and loads of other parts of LEGOLAND.

Finally, all three of us were hungry, and we ended up eating at one of the cafes. This is my shoddy Goats Cheese and Mash Pie meal for £7.95. It was not worth its money. Crust was too hard, and the knife couldn’t even cut the crust!!!!!!!! I think I have had better pies than this!
Goats cheese pie ‘n’ mash


My geeky rating (for experience): 3.5/5 (I know I don’t usually rate shops and other stuff, but in this post it definitely deserves my rating)

Good points:
Free refills if you purchase a £6 LEGOLAND water bottle

Bad points:
Long queues for a measly few minutes ride
Bad hot food experience
Toys are too expensive 😦
Shuttle bus to LEGOLAND is also expensive 😛

Website: www.legoland.co.uk
2For1 offer: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

Nearest Station: Windsor and Eton (when you come out of the station, go up to the traffic lights, turn left towards the fountains (you’ll be beside Windsor Castle), then go up the small hill, you will see a bus stop. These buses take you to LEGOLAND!.