London Recap – Day 2
March 20, 2010 § Leave a comment
By some amazing coincidence, during my trip to London, my aunt and uncle from China were visiting my cousin, Miao Meng at Oxford at the same time. Because I only see them about every 5 years, we took the opportunity to take two day trips together, one to Windsor Castle and Eton College and another to Oxford.
On my second day in London, I woke up super early and trudged across Tower Bridge to get to Paddington Station, where my relatives picked me up and we drove the quick 30 minutes to Windsor.
It was amazingly clear that day and we walked around the grounds before finally going into the state apartments, where we were unfortunately prohibited from taking pictures. I just remember the decor inside the rooms being as lavish as you could imagine with gilded swords and pistols and marble busts everywhere. There was a great room that displayed the arms of all the English knighthoods on the ceilings and walls with the year the knight was inducted, although some of them were blank because the knight had been demoted after committing a crime. Yikes.
Another highlight was the giant room where all the Queen’s state dinners took place. Our audio guide explained that because the table could be set with 80 people on each side, the silverware and dinnerware had to be spaced strictly to the official measurements since one fork out of place would completely ruin the visual effect. Later, when I watched a state dinner scene in The Young Victoria featuring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend, I had one of those “I was there moments!” and felt like such a dork.
Afterwards, we crossed the Thames, walked through cute streets, and took a peek at Eton College, which I only know of because Prince William and Harry both attended.
In the evening, I headed back to London, and Melissa, her friends from LSE, and I queued up at a club called KOKO that’s actually located in a huge theater, except instead of a glistening chandelier, it’s got a giant disco ball hanging from the ceiling. After the day’s walking around and dancing, by the time I got back to Melissa’s, I’d passed out yet again.
Notes on Food 
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