Festive Fun 2023
Dec. 8th, 2023 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crystalcazzieLast Friday I went up to see Paul for our Festive Weekend. We avoided central London this year, which was probably sensible but I did miss the Muppets. I'll just have to make up for it by watching and singalong-ing a lot at home!
We started our festivities by going to Henry VIII's pad, Hampton Court:
Obligatory picture of the Astronomical Clock
Not a bad place to live.
The reason we went was for the Festive Fayre and there were plenty of stalls both in the courtyard and out in the gardens.
I didn't buy as much as I thought I would, but I had a lovely spiced plum drink. Also a Christmas cheese toastie and Cointreau hot chocolate. Delicious.
We then walked along the river to Kingston:
Very pretty walk.
View from Kingston Bridge.
We had a look in some of the shops there and while I am all for quirky and fun Christmas decorations I do have to wonder...
Who is putting these on their tree?
We had a drink by the river...
Lovely evening.
Then we went to Browns where I had a Christmas cocktail:
A Berry Bramble Bellini.
~*~
The next day the four of us went to explore another location...
Can you guess where it is yet?
It's a place with a castle.
It's Windsor! And very misty!
We arrived just in time for the Changing of the Guard, although we couldn't exactly see much.
No photography was allowed in the State Apartments, but they were decorated very nicely for Christmas and I loved the big Christmas trees.
In the cafe I wondered if it would be too much to go double gingerbread...
But it's Christmas! So Gingerbread Latte and Gingerbread Cake it is!
Back outside for a different area of the castle...
Hmm, that's a very familiar area.
Hey, look, it me!
I'm wearing my new coat, which I really like but have already torn a button off. Now I just have to learn how to sew to get it back on.
St George's Chapel.
Again, there was no photography inside but I did walk around. I may not have joined The Queue last September but I have now walked past the Queen's final resting place.
We had a look around Windsor itself, which was a bit of a disappointment to be honest.
Some nice decorations though.
And I had my first mulled wine of the year...
At a pub next to an ever-so-slightly crooked building!
We walked back via the station, which did a lot to improve my opinion of Winsdor. It was far more the kind of thing I was expecting.
And it had a steam train!
Windsor didn't have a Christmas market, which was a shame, but it did have its own mini Winter Wonderland:
I had another mulled wine here.
Have they had a falling out?
~*~
Sunday we went into Kingston where I was extremely impressed by the United Colors of Benetton window display:
So cool.
This is a Spiced Cookie Chai Latte. Paul wanted the same but I got the last one. Oops!
Later on we went to Surbiton and met up with the rest of the Lateral Drinkers for brunch followed by board games. Well the only game we ended up playing was Sushi Go but it was a lot of fun. We couldn't stay too long cos Paul and I felt it would be best for him to drive me home rather than me staying over for another night. That worked out for the best cos I started feeling sick Sunday evening and threw up a few times during the night. I spent Monday feeling awful and have been slowly recovering all week. I'm thinking I must have eaten something bad, possibly the bacon roll I had for brunch, or caught a bug. Drinking is also a possible cause, but I wasn't drunk so I doubt it would be that. Unless something I drank disagreed with me.
We started our festivities by going to Henry VIII's pad, Hampton Court:
Obligatory picture of the Astronomical Clock
Not a bad place to live.
The reason we went was for the Festive Fayre and there were plenty of stalls both in the courtyard and out in the gardens.
I didn't buy as much as I thought I would, but I had a lovely spiced plum drink. Also a Christmas cheese toastie and Cointreau hot chocolate. Delicious.
We then walked along the river to Kingston:
Very pretty walk.
View from Kingston Bridge.
We had a look in some of the shops there and while I am all for quirky and fun Christmas decorations I do have to wonder...
Who is putting these on their tree?
We had a drink by the river...
Lovely evening.
Then we went to Browns where I had a Christmas cocktail:
A Berry Bramble Bellini.
~*~
The next day the four of us went to explore another location...
Can you guess where it is yet?
It's a place with a castle.
It's Windsor! And very misty!
We arrived just in time for the Changing of the Guard, although we couldn't exactly see much.
No photography was allowed in the State Apartments, but they were decorated very nicely for Christmas and I loved the big Christmas trees.
In the cafe I wondered if it would be too much to go double gingerbread...
But it's Christmas! So Gingerbread Latte and Gingerbread Cake it is!
Back outside for a different area of the castle...
Hmm, that's a very familiar area.
Hey, look, it me!
I'm wearing my new coat, which I really like but have already torn a button off. Now I just have to learn how to sew to get it back on.
St George's Chapel.
Again, there was no photography inside but I did walk around. I may not have joined The Queue last September but I have now walked past the Queen's final resting place.
We had a look around Windsor itself, which was a bit of a disappointment to be honest.
Some nice decorations though.
And I had my first mulled wine of the year...
At a pub next to an ever-so-slightly crooked building!
We walked back via the station, which did a lot to improve my opinion of Winsdor. It was far more the kind of thing I was expecting.
And it had a steam train!
Windsor didn't have a Christmas market, which was a shame, but it did have its own mini Winter Wonderland:
I had another mulled wine here.
Have they had a falling out?
~*~
Sunday we went into Kingston where I was extremely impressed by the United Colors of Benetton window display:
So cool.
This is a Spiced Cookie Chai Latte. Paul wanted the same but I got the last one. Oops!
Later on we went to Surbiton and met up with the rest of the Lateral Drinkers for brunch followed by board games. Well the only game we ended up playing was Sushi Go but it was a lot of fun. We couldn't stay too long cos Paul and I felt it would be best for him to drive me home rather than me staying over for another night. That worked out for the best cos I started feeling sick Sunday evening and threw up a few times during the night. I spent Monday feeling awful and have been slowly recovering all week. I'm thinking I must have eaten something bad, possibly the bacon roll I had for brunch, or caught a bug. Drinking is also a possible cause, but I wasn't drunk so I doubt it would be that. Unless something I drank disagreed with me.
