Sunday in London – Poppies and Tower Bridge

Saturday Night Dinner

We invited Julia, our delightful host at 76 Duke Street, to join us for dinner, and she accepted. Last year we were in Windsor and ate at Al Fassia, a Moroccan Restaurant that we very much enjoyed, so that’s where the three of us strolled to eat. The food was wonderful. The service, not so much. They has a big group in an upstairs room, and we waited too long for courses to be served. But, as stated, the food was delicious, and we had a good long chat with Julia who has a son in san Francisco and a married daughter in New Zealand. The daughter had her first grandson last year just after we left Windsor.

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Sunday in London – Poppies and Tower Bridge

After a lovely Sunday morning breakfast at 76 Duke Street, we decided to take the train into London for the day. Windsor has two rail stations on different lines. From Windsor Central Station, the most convenient from the B&B, you take a shuttle train to Slough and then board the main line train to London Paddington Station. From Windsor Riverside, the train is direct to London Waterloo Station. Oddly, however, it’s almost 20 minutes faster to take the train from Windsor Central, even with the change of trains. And from Paddington, it’s a straight shot on the Underground Circle Line to the Tower of London.   So we left from Windsor Central at about 10:00.

The Tower is our main reason for making the foray to the big city. Not to see the Tower itself or the Crown Jewels within, both of which have already done, but rather to see the major artistic installation entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’. The Tower of London’s famous dry moat is being filled with over 800,000 ceramic poppies to create a powerful visual commemoration for the First World War Centenary. Read all about it here. There were zillions of tourists about, but it was quite a fabulous display. Volunteers are “planting” more ceramic poppies every day with completion scheduled for Remembrance Day, November 11^th. We will be back in London on that day and may venture back to see the last poppy installed.

While we were in the area, we decided to visit Tower Bridge, London’s iconic landmark. There is an exhibition promenade across the top of the Bridge, and the views are spectacular. A short walk away is the Monument to the Great London Fire, so we gave that a view too.

Amidst all this sight-seeing we visited the fancifully named Hung Drawn and Quartered Pub. Always time for a pint and a bite to eat. We share a chicken and chorizo pie and some Engliah lager.

Finally we took the tube back to Paddington and hopped a train back to Windsor. There was time for another pint in a pub by the river before heading back to the B&B for a short nap and a freshen up. Indian food in England is usually a good choice, so we chose Dhinchak for dinner based on its Tripadvisor reviews.. It was extraordinarily good, service was wonderful. We enjoyed a prime table in the window.

Come back tomorrow as we head to Liverpool.