March 1, 2016

Our Windsor flat from the front

Lots has happened since last I wrote! Most importantly, we successfully rented an apartment here and have moved in! We signed up for internet, but they don't install the hardware for one more week (Spencer managed to figure out how to connect us to Wifi, though, for spotty coverage until then). We did some shopping for a few necessary home goods (namely, sheets for the beds and soap to wash our hands), but otherwise feel good living minimally! Our apartment is furnished so we have a few pots and pans and dishes in the kitchen, the furniture we need in all the rooms, and even a BBQ in the back patio. We love our place - the furnishings are in good condition and pleasantly arranged - but nothing beats our location. We are just a 5-10 minute walk from anything we could need on a day-to-day basis: several grocery stores, pubs and restaurants, Spencer's office, the castle and museums, both of Windsor's train stations (which is how we've managed to make it to London twice), the public library, playgrounds and parks, and the entire downtown shopping area. And despite our proximity to the hubbub of downtown, we are in a peaceful row house in a little cul du sac just two blocks off the main streets. We have a nice outside patio which we hope to frequent as the weather improves, and we have a parking space in the front, which we probably will rarely use (as we don't plan to get a car while we're here). And now that we're official residents of Windsor, Spencer and I were able to get "Advantage Cards" which allow us many privileges throughout the city - including free access to the Windsor Castle.

Emmett would like to be a castle guard someday

Speaking of the castle, Emmett, Grandma Kay and I have now gone to the castle 4 times. We've been taking it slow to keep Emmett's engagement high. He enjoyed finding flowers in the gardens, finding paintings of animals (mostly horses) throughout the inside of the castle, and seeing the toy cars in the famous Queen's dollhouse. His favorite part of the castle, though, by far, is seeing the guards. We've seen the changing of the guards from the outside of the castle as they march from the castle arch to the barracks, we've seen the changing from the inside of the castle where they've played several marching tunes, and we've seen the guards walking around inside of the castle - always swinging their arms and marching with their loud shoes in rhythm. Emmett has taken to marching and swinging his arm (though he hasn't mastered the legwork and arms going at the same time). We tried taking him to the Episcopal church service inside the castle last night, too, thinking he'd enjoy the music, but Spencer and Grandma ended up staying behind to watch the service while Emmett and I went back home to make dinner - Emmett doesn't understand the importance of whispering yet.

As Grandma Kay's visit is coming to an end (her flight is next Sunday, March 6), and we are officially residents of Windsor, we decided we had to start making Grandma's visit more touristy. So besides visiting the castle 4 times, we have also had some tasters at the local Windsor brewery (no gluten free beer, unfortunately, for me though), spent a day in London (last Saturday), walked to the Eton prep school's campus and visited their natural history museum (open to the public only 2.5 hours per week), found gluten free beer at the nearby grocery store (yay for me! I don't have to drink cider anymore!), tried a couple new restaurants, visited the local Windsor museum, and done some souvenir shopping.

Matt shows Emmett where we need to visit

A few highlights from these activities:

My good friend, Matt, who otherwise lives with his beautiful family in Switzerland, has a business client near London and took the opportunity to come visit us last Wednesday evening for a nice dinner. Emmett warmed up to him quickly and has already been studying up (with Matt, of course) on how to get to Switzerland to pay him a visit and meet his daughters.

At the brewery last Friday afternoon, there were a group of people hanging out drinking free beer offered by the staff, and chatting about rugby. One of the fellows started talking with Emmett, who is not shy and who offered the guy one of his pretzels. In exchange for the soggy pretzel, the guy gave Emmett a giant "lolly" that he had purchased as an "I'm sorry for ruining dinner" gift for his wife. We're still not sure what to do with a lollypop the size of Emmett's head - it's in our cabinet. The people there said we should visit again next Friday for some more beer. We're thinking we'll do just that but bring Spencer with us this time.

It was so cold in London

While in London, we managed to see a lot! Spencer smoothly navigated us around on the commuter trains and on the "Tube" (the subway). With our stroller in tow, we decided that public transportation in London is not very handicap-friendly, but we were grateful to have Emmett in the stroller for his short nap-time-while-on-the-move. We started the day at the Kensington Gardens where there is a giant playground that Emmett occupied for over an hour. Then we found some lunch at a little cafe inside of Kensington Palace. From there we took the tube to the other side of Hyde Park where we walked to the Buckingham Palace. From there we continued on foot to see Big Ben, other houses of parliament, the London Eye Ferris wheel and lots of beautiful bridges, walking paths, buildings and scenery. We were pooped by the end of the day. We came back to Windsor and had dinner near the train station at a new-to-us South African restaurant.

King Emmett I is a happy king

We spent the following day (Sunday) getting groceries, resting, and then walking over to Eton to see the campus of the famous prep school. They don't currently run tours of the school, but they open their natural history museum up to the public for 2.5 hours each Sunday. The museum was fascinating and kept Emmett's attention without a problem. Anything with animals will do that. We enjoyed walking through the town of Eton on our way back toward Windsor, too.

On our list, still, before Sunday is either a trip back to London to see the Science Museum or a matinee showing at the Royal Theatre here in Windsor on Thursday. We may end up doing both of those things (just not both on the same day). We have been cramming lots in the last few days - we'll see if we can keep up our energy. We hope you enjoy the posts and photos. Please keep in touch and keep well!