March 18: Windsor

Erin decided she really wanted to get to Windsor Castle, so we went to Paddington train station this morning and asked the chap at the desk when the next train was. We got lucky and were able to buy very cheap tickets (4 pounds roundtrip) to Windsor station (with a train change in Slough), that left in 10 minutes. The train ride was pleasant, but the weather was horrible. Thank gooness I'd worn my wool coat. It was raining hard and freezing all day. When we got to Windsor, we walked up to the castle and bought tickets, which came with headset tours. The Queen's banner was flying, so she was in there, somewhere. We explored the castle for several hours. It was fun seeing it again. There was some sort of string instrument contest taking place that weekend, and some of the contestants were practicing in the Waterloo Hall, which was wonderful to listen to. They were really good. All the paintings in that room are done by the famous 18-19th century artist, Sir Thomas Lawrence, who we just have to be related to. When we went into St. George's Chapel, I walked on Henry VIII again. Woops. Dad really enjoyed the Albert Memorial Chapel, which holds Queen Victoria's son and grandson.

The Queen's banner

Moat gardens

Rin and me

Erin and me in front of the Round Tower

Mom, Rin and I in front of St. George's Chapel (it's on the right)

We left Windsor so we could get back to London in time to visit the National Gallery. Erin decided she really wanted to see the Victorians in the Portrait Gallery, so she went off there and Dad and Mom and I went to the National Gallery, to see great art of the world in under an hour. We flew through the impressionists, enjoyed the Romantics, and wandered around the various religious iconography. We met Erin and walked to the theater. We didn't seen any promising restaurants on the way, so we went into an Italian place right next to the Queen's Theater, hoping they would have meatless dishes. Wow did we get lucky! The place we picked was fantastic. We had amazing cheese-less pizza with pesto and pine nuts for an appetizer, and I had egg and pine nut ravioli that was just amazing. Mom had noodles with mushrooms that tasted like buttered toast. Erin had a huge pizza with artichoke hearts that may well have been one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten, and Dad had seafood with noodles that was really good. We were quite happy. After dinner, we raced over to the theater and took our seats, which were a few rows back just to the right hand side of the first balcony. The show was absolutely INCREDIBLE. Just amazing. The Valjean, Simon Bowman, was phenomenal, Colm Wilkinson-like but not a copycat. His "Bring Him Home" made me bawl. Javert was played by a hero of Erin and mine, Norm Lewis, who played Roger in A New Brain, a truly incredible Off-Broadway musical that we love. We were pretty excited to see him. The Marius, Gareth Gates, was surprisingly good. Enjolras, Killian Donnelly, was amazing. Fantine wasn't so good. I reeeeally didn't like her. Cosette was ok, but not that great. Madame Thenardier, Katy Secombe, was incredibly funny. Thenardier was played by the understudy, who was good, but way too young for the role. Eponine, Samantha Barks, was absolutely incredible. The little Gavroche was adorable and made me cry when he died. The show must have been good, since I was leaking tears all the way through.