We had a 7:45 am departure this morning. Like yesterday, the hotel restaurant opened early at 6:45 am so we could have breakfast before we departed. Our first stop of the day was Hampton Court. Hampton Court was home to Henry VII in the 16th century. Later William III and Mary II took up residence there and in 1838 it was opened to the public. We were there before the public and we had a private guide throughout our visit there. To be honest, I saw “Hampton Court” on the itinerary but I really didn’t know what it was and I hadn’t looked into further before the trip. Being a fan of the Tudors, it was very cool to be there and I enjoyed this stop very much. We left Hampton Court to take a short bus ride to the town of Windsor. The guides took us into the middle of the town and explained what our options were as we would be on our own for about two hours here. A tour of Windsor castle was not part of our tour, but the guides explained that they had looked online and there were some available slots for a tour if you wanted to grab tickets and do that on your own. Otherwise, they suggested various restaurants / pubs in the town. It was a Sunday and having “Sunday roast” was suggested as well as where to get it. They also gave us directions to the “Long Walk.” The Long Walk is several mile long path that starts from Windsor Castle. There was also a grocery store in the town if you wanted to check out a local supermarket. We decided to walk down to the Long Walk for some photos and then we looked around in some souvenir shops. In search of a Sunday Roast, we settled on a pub called The Prince Harry. The pub was originally built in 1518 and was a guild hall. We enjoyed a pint and Sue and Carrie tried the Sunday Roast. Afterwards, we did some shopping including a stop in the grocery store for some local treats and a coffee shop for a little pick me up. We met back up and headed off to an estate for one of the hands on experiences of the trip – archery. There were 4 instructors and they started by dividing us into two groups. One group got a demonstration and learned about the history of the longbow and how it was used in wars (my group started out there). And the second group worked with instructors to learn how to use the long bow. The instructors were patient and very good at teaching. Each person had five arrows while you were learning. You would shoot your first one, with guidance from the instructor, and then depending on how you did, the instructor would tell you want to do differently for your next arrow. There was not one person that did not end up at least hitting the target. At the end, we divided into four teams for a little competition. Each person got two arrows, and you got one point for just hitting the target (bullseye didn’t count more). This was the first example of carrying on despite the weather. It was perfectly fine when we arrived and then it poured during the activity. No one flinched – everyone just grabbed jackets / umbrellas and carried on. It stopped within about 10 minutes and there was even a rainbow afterwards. I really enjoyed the hands on experiences. It is something different that you probably wouldn’t even think to do on your own (if it was even possible to do on your own) and it was always nice when it was just our group. This was our last activity of the day with ABD. Back at the hotel, we decided to eat dinner in the restaurant there, which was very good. It was good to stay in as well because we needed to pack up as the next day we were heading to Paris.
Another Adventures by Disney difference – We had to have our suitcases packed and ready in our rooms by 9 pm. We had luggage tags from ABD to put on the suitcases. A person from bell services came and picked them up and the next time we saw them was in our Paris hotel. We each packed a carry on to bring on the train the next day. It was so nice not to have to worry about transporting our suitcases ourselves.
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AuthorI have been a huge Disney and travel fan since childhood. I love going to new places and, of course, heading to Disney as often as I can. Archives
December 2023
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