Windsor

Pics to this post can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/bbergey/Windsor

Greetings! Last weekend after I explored the great West End of London, I travelled to Windsor with a couple co-workers to volunteer at a triathalon. One of the benefits of working for Active is that they are aware of all the big (and little) sporting events in the UK and Europe. Often we are able to volunteer to promote our company and in return they give us comp time at work. It's great!

We had to leave London around 430am on Sunday morning and Sam drove Hayley and I out to Windsor, about 20 miles west of our office in London. It was my first time out of the city and it was a really nice experience. Windsor is a great village and even though it's so close to London, it's amazing how quaint it really is. It made me realize that the more I can get out of London the better, to truely experience England. Windsor is everything that I imagined England to be.

We arrived at the race and Hayley and I were stationed at the first transition, which means the transition the athletes go through between swimming (the first event) and biking (the 2nd). It was pretty exciting to see all of them running from the river to their bikes and trying to take their wesuits off in the process. We had front row seats which was really exciting when the "elite" (or professional) wave came through.

It was a long morning, but we were done by noon and were able to watch the end of the race which was really cool. The elite wave was being taped to be televised on TV; the Windsor triathalon is the biggest in the UK and a pretty popular race because of it's setting and difficulty. After seeing the end of the race, Hayley and I walked up to the Windsor Castle and explored the village area. Unfortunatley the castle was closed to tours because Bush was in town and apparently staying in the castle with the Queen (the flag was up so I guess that means she's in).

Windsor itself was amazing! The castle is HUGE and I can't wait to go back and actually go inside. Otherwise, the village itself is exactly how I picture England. See the pics for yourself! We stopped in the square across from the castle and had some lunch before heading back to London. It was a great day and it definitely made me realize that living in London is great, but I need to take advantage of everything else around me. I imagine most of my weekends will hopefully be spent outside of the city exploring everything I can. Stay tuned for my first real adventure which took place this past weekend.........