A Typical Sunday....

in London, England!
(and nearby surrounding areas...)

1. Wake up hungover.

2. Grab McDonalds hungover breakfast.

3. Take the tube/train to a random English Castle.

4. Take the self guided tour.

5. Drink a coke at a cute restaurant nearby.

6. Go back to Ability. Kyle comes over to Flat 69 and we all upload pictures to facebook.

• Buckingham Palace: Official residence of the Queen

So we did the audio tour - there was also an exhibit that year (the palace is only for visitors every summer) to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 60th wedding anniversary. Some of the stuff on display was incredible... like her £9,000 wedding cake and loads of gifts from famous people around the world to congratulate them.

I'd have to say my favorite was the music room.

The music room (picture compliments of googleimagesearch)
It doesn't do it justice though.

So this is a picture of the queen's back yard.. no big deal you know. The semi circle dome area in the middle (with the green dome top) is where the music room is. The grand piano looks out onto the backyard!!

The front of the palace.

Walking through Hyde Park to the Palace

Queen Lizzy's car.. no big deal.

Kids corner!

Then we went to Hard Rock Cafe (the first one EVER!) Pigged out on some amazing Mac & Cheese.

So we all ordered Coke (typical), and 2 seconds after they came the boys had already inhaled them. What. the. freak.

• Windsor Castle

So we went to Windsor Castle via Waterloo Station.. so when we were there and waiting around I saw a brochure for "Rugby" and was like SWEET!! we can learn about rugby finally and understand what the eff is going on. So I grab the brochure and then went to grab some food (or a Coke)... I come back and Darrell goes.. "You know that brochure is about Rugby the place... not the sport right?" hahahahahha.

Group Shot in front of the castle, before the tour started :)

The audio tour actually started outside the castle (the audio tour looked like an old school phone that you hold up to your ear, unlike the ones at Buckingham which had headphones, and more unlike the ones at SFMOMA which are iPODS) which really threw me off.. no worries though. Then we went inside - O.M.G. the dollhouse that was made for Queen Mary (a replica of some rooms in Windsor) was EL MEGA CREEPY! I mean it was really cool cuz it was done TO SCALE and looked so real.... but everything in the dollhouse actually functioned.

Note the audio equipment... I feel like Zack Morris.

With the guard


Hanging out in the gardens... look how relaxed everyone is

Afternoon frolick.. see below ridiculous video

Loooonnng road we ventured on

The thing I love about these weekends is just how we just wander around... taking ridiculous Herbal Essence commercial pictures, AND making the boys skip. We walked on the ridiculously long road behind windsor.. trying to make it to the horse statue...but after an hour we realised we weren't even close. Hahahaha.

Wandering around Windsor looking for Coke

So then we wandered around the town of Windsor, and found the cutest little restaurant at the base of the castle. Unfortunately it was already 5pm in England autumn so it was getting quite chilly - the California kids were not coping so well:

So on the way there, we got stuck in the QUIET car because we boarded late... so on the way BACK to the city, we were insane. So the train was going ridiculously fast through Slough.. and someone said "Woooow, you would think it would at least slow down."

"Yeah, you would think it would at least SLOUGH down..."

• Hampton Court Palace

So we ventured out to Hampton Court Palace included all of EIGHT people! We took the train there, ate a cute sandwich shop (Cokes included), and then headed to take the tour. So we first went to the King's apartments and me and Darrell asked how they rebuilt the ceiling after the fire of 1986. So they said they would take all the pieces and compare it to blueprints and whatever leftover material they had stored from when they built the building the first time.

So then we head over to the King Henry VIII (who had 6 wives)'s exhibition. Me and Sean were sitting in the main room just taking in all the art and stained glass windows... and I go "Dude.. that stain glass window looks like there's Marge Simpson on it.."

"Yes.. because when King Henry VIII was in power, the Simpsons was all the rage."

And theeenn we were making ridiculous comments and we thought we were inhaling fumes... and I go "Dude.. seriously it smells like smoke. I think its from the fire that burnt down the ceiling!"

Then we went into the next room and we swore it smelled like dead animals.. and we look up and there are tons of animal skulls displayed on the walls.

Holyyyyyy. Wow we're amazing.

So we took a stroll outside in the gardens & did the maze (which we didn't get lost in once.. quite disappointing).

in the maze.. or "jungle"

So then we decided to go get a Sunday roast..because it was Sunday...but of course... all the pubs we went to had no more roast.. OR RAN OUT OF FOOD! what. the. Apparently that's typical for the British because the Somerfield I frequent on the way home from work for groceries likes to run out of spinach, mushrooms, lemons, meat.....

So we ended up eating at Zizi's.. and this is what Sam's calzone looked like.



AND, I have NO idea what was in the water at Zizi's, but we were OUT OF CONTROL on the train ride back. It seriously started becoming chaotic... the guys across from us started cracking up at something hilarious, then Imoved a water bottle and someone starts cracking up.. then everyone starts laughing and I don't even know what in the world we were talking about. So everyone on the train is about to kill us ... then the announcment over the PA says "Occasionally there are begggars on the train. Please do not encourage IT by giving them money." Then we also found out that Darrell pets Christian's hair in his sleep.

So the train gets to Waterloo - and no joke, everyone else in our car STAMPEDES to the door and is PUSHING their way out... as. fast. as. physically. possible.

Wooooow. I love us.