We started off the morning grabbing some croissants at a bakery across from our hotel and asked someone for directions since we were on a time crunch. We walked through Piccadilly Circus on our way to meet the tour group and head out of London. It was pretty tame this morning, but when we walked back through this afternoon, it was packed.
Our tour guide was from Scottland (Glasgow), and his accent was awesome. I've decided I need some kind of accent - between all those British and Scottish people, I'm jealous. We and 5 other people made our way in a van out of London toward Highclere Castle. I almost felt bad for subjecting Kalie to a ride in a stinky van full of old people, but we were going to Downton, so she just had to deal. After nodding off continously for an hour and a half, we finally made it to Highclere.
Or Downton, I should say.
We weren't able to take pictures inside (mainly because the 8th Earl of Carnarvon and his family still live there). While we weren't able to see the full castle, we were able to see a lot. We saw the entrance hall, saloon, library, dining room, drawing room, grand staircase, and Sybil's room from the show. The inside of the castle was spectacular (probably better than Kensington Palace), but the clencher was the grounds.
From the Wild Flower Meadow to Penelope's Wood to Monks' Garden and the South & East Lawns, the grounds were spectacular. I want to move in for the grounds alone.
From Highclere, we drove about 40 minutes to the village of Bampton, where the scenes from the town of Downton are filmed. Aside from the Downton relation, Bampton was a quintessential British town that I would love to move to but could never afford. Also, apparently all of their restaurants are closed on Thursdays for lunch, so finding food is next to impossible.
Mrs. Crawley's house.
The church where Mary and Matthew got married. Before Matthew decided to ruin the show.
Apparently when shooting the first season of Downton, they paid the villagers 200 pounds to paint their doors a uniform green. So after filming was completed, a lot of the villagers painted their doors different colors, expecting to receive 200 pounds for the next filming. Unfortunately, the crew just placed fake doors in front of the painted doors for the remaining seasons, so they lost out. But the doors were pretty.
Day 2 was spent with a lot of time in a stinky van, but it was worth it. We did manage to sneak some shopping in on Piccadilly as we meandered back to our hotel. We also realized that our cell phone service was a little unreliable after receiving 5 very much delayed texts from my aunt frantically inquiring about our whereabouts. Apparently walking into an empty hotel room and not being able to reach said people you were expecting to see in said hotel is a little nerve-wracking.
Not that we'd know. We were too busy shopping at Taylor Swift approved stores.
Tomorrow, we're going to see Julia and Hugh.
Until then,
The Americans Who Won't Be Coming Home
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