After our late night coming in, we assumed that we would finally sleep for quite a bit, especially because Georgie had an appointment at 9. However, our “colds” in conjunction with our usual routine, woke us up long before 8 and Katie was down having breakfast with Mrs. Lyon before Georgie's alarm went off. I joined them after attempting to woo sleep again and the three of us had a nice breakfast of toast.
We spent the morning catching up on things—showers, primarily—and when we were complete, we wandered down to Guildford proper for a tour of the little village by Georgie. I must say that it was certainly a lovely day and we couldn't have asked for better weather since we've been back in England. The sun was out, the flowers were definitely out—especially in the garden/park area where we sat and had our picnic lunch within the walls of the castle grounds. It was a really nice, relaxing day, mostly because there's not much to do in Guildford. They have a main street that is definitely very quaint with the little shops lining the sides and tons of young people were out and about seeing as it was part of their holiday week. Sitting in the little garden area, where we had to forcefully stake out our position, we watched people and chatted. I made a friend in a small boy who must have been maybe a year old. He certainly couldn't walk at any rate. He made an escape from the other side of the wall where some children were playing with their parents and I suppose that he and I provided entertainment for the other two, seeing as he would giggle every time I would lift my hands and say “whaaaat??”. He finally got close enough, reached out and put a hand on my knee......and then promptly giggled and trundled off to the dirt, where his (mother?) caught him and took him back after warning us about “this one.”
After our delightful lunch, we caught a ride back with Georgie's mother who showed us some of the old buildings that had been there since Guildford had been a wee little village. There was a building that had been built in the Jacobean times that now housed the members of Guildford who had lived their for over 60 years and were of limited means, provided for by charity and the residence's munificence. After, we proceeded to have tea back at the house, where we attempted to sort out what we were going to do in London the following day. G was dead set on taking us to high tea, seeing as it was a once in a lifetime experience. Then we had to figure out where, and which was cheapest for a 'proper' tea (£26 ended up being the cheapest) and what we wanted to do. Katie wasn't bothered by anything, which was nice in that we got to figure out a relatively simple plan, but TOTALLY UNHELPFUL in our attempt to figure out what she would like seeing in an afternoon's whirlwind trip through downtown London. After about 4 hours (no joke) we finally settled on walking Piccadilly to Oxford Street by walking up Regents and seeing Libertys (G was insistant), then curving back into Mayfair and having tea, to be followed by a stroll through Green Park (which I definitely fell in love with), past Buckingham Palace, and then across Westminister bridge to the Eye. Georgie also suggested that we show Katie the West End at night, which we then had to debate, seeing as we'd have to stay longer as the sun refuses to set here until nearly 8. But in the end, we were sorted and went off to have dinner at the Lyons' favorite Chinese restaurant.
It was quite good food, though instead of Chinese, it was rather Vietnamese, Thai, and “Peking” according to the menu. We got loads of food and I must admit that I am pretty bad with chopsticks, but managed to figure them out halfway through the dinner, which I was definitely proud of seeing as everyone else looked like they were managing without trouble. I think I may have provided some entertainment for Mr. Lyon as I think I may have dropped some chicken at one point. Or several.
Regardless, it was a very good meal and we returned home to have some desert (fantastic hot chocolate) and chat for awhile before bed, watching the hilarious tv show that Katie will describe more in the next blog.
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| Guildford castle grounds |
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| Downtown Guildford |
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