Windsor was great. Went to Waterloo to meet Milton at 9.45am, and Shawn and JIA LUN came along. Joel joined us later.
We got tickets cheap - a 2 for 2 offer, so we paid half price at £3.90 each for the return journey. The 50 minute trip there was passed by playing cards - Bridge, Dai Dee and Egyptian Rat Race (which I keep winning).
Today happened to be the Royal Ascot Races, held at Ascot which is a short drive from Windsor itself. The Queen was in attendance, and she was probably at Windsor Castle at her royal apartment.
Upon arriving at Windsor, I got maps and we went to Windsor Castle. £6.50 entry, and we were in to explore the place. Really big and beautiful and there were many intersting things inside - Queen Mary's Doll House collection, the Royal Art Collection (featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and more), the Royal China Collection (porcelain tableware), Armour and weapons, the St. George's Cathedral, and the castle environs.
Afterwhich, we went to grab some lunch at a cafe (I had a stuffed potato with tuna and corn, and an ice cream) and clever me went to buy two 2l of drinks for £2.60!! This shop had a one for one offer (: Pretty good deal, considering a 500ml bottle of coke at the cafe cost £1.30 (:
Then we went to the Great Windor Park. Gosh, it was so beautiful and massive - the Long Walk is so simple with the boulevard of trees gracing each side of the road path, and that was beauty in itself. The 3 mile road leads to Windsor Castle. The group of us sat under a tree and ate our lunch while we talked. After lunch, we passed the time playing cards and enjoying the lovely breeze and summer weather, while Jialun made sketches for his sweetheart. I'm kidding, but Jialun was drawing whatever he saw. Very remarkable interest and means of expression, and I really admire Jialun's drawing ability.
Then the moment we'd all been waiting for - PHOTO SHOOT! Took lots of scenic shots of the Long Walk, Windsor Castle, and also us with the lovely scenery. We took cool shots as well - I enjoyed it!
After the Great Park, we made our way back to the train station, with 30 minutes to spare so we walked around Eton for a very short while - not enough time to visit Eton College though. Well it was good enough fun, and we went back from Windsor via the train to Waterloo, grabbing dinner at McDonalds' before catching the Tube to our various locations for musicals. JIalun and Shawn went to watch the Lion King while Joel and myself went to catch Phantom of the Opera with Bird, Yanling, John and Milton.
Phantom was quite an awesome musical. The set was great - very elaborate and well designed and thought of. The thing that kinda grew stale after a while was the constant use and re-use of the same tunes, with lyrics changed accordingly with the situations and dialogue. Nonetheless, the strong melodies and themes held true - song like Music of the Night and That's All I ask of You were really well sung. The performers weren't bad, singing and dancing well. And there was much use of pyrotechnics and explosives - flames and firecrackers were used for effects, the phantom would escape using a small thunderflash and a shroud of smoke. The smoke machine was very cleverly employed for the water scenes (:
it was training on the outside when it ended. So we waited outside for the rain to simmer, while we took some photos of ourselves. Then we headed home via tube, along our own separate routes.
I found myself at Green Park at 10.45pm, with a train that would depart from Victoria at 10.52pm (though it actually departs at 10.50pm). So with great determination, and really couting every second, I hopped onto the Victoria line train, alighted as soon as it arrived, ran and cut through the crowd like a meandering stream, dashed up the escalaor, tapped out of the gantry and ran up the stairs into the Victoria station, made a quick check on the Departure boards to confirm my train's platform, dashed through the gantries and boarded the first carriage of the Orpington line train as soon as I saw it..
Ten seconds later, the doors closed and the train departed. Thank goodness - it would have been a 30 minute wait for the next train just because of that 10 seconds lapse.
I'm going to have a shower before hitting the sac. Going to update the photos asap (:
I'm meeting my friends at Westminister tmr, and then going to watch the Changing of Guards again. Then we'll see what there is to do before going for dinner at Edgware Road for dinner at night.
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