A little more awake now

yesterday's posting was a train-wreak of information. sorry for any of you who tried to make sense of it. so here is a little more sensible review of what i've been up to so far.
rob an i went to windsor/eton on friday to see the castle and the school. i was suprised to see how much of a town there was there. i had been there previously in 1996 but i think that it must have still been closed for restoration following the fire. the weather was good for a change with only threatening clouds. we we arrived on of the guards told us that the Queen was going to be arriving at 4. sadly she snuck in the back door so the only way we knew she was there was because the switched the royal standard for the union jack that had been flying. queen mary's doll house was interesting in a "if i had a squillion dollars and had to spend it on useless shit" kind of way. the state apartments were interesting altho' with out a guide book a lot of the significance is lost. luckily there were 4 gift shops each stocking a lot of pap, none of which i bought. compared to the day before the train was the scariest part of the journey, with no inside opening mechanism you had to open the window in the door and turn the handle on the outside. also, it stopped in about 18 tiny towns along the way. eton college was unimpressive and uninviting. after we got home we went for dinner and drinks with andrea at the Lamb Pub and Ciao Bella restaurant. i had wagglebottom honey beer and spaghetti puntanesca.
the following day we ventured to rye and did the 1.5 hour long walking, self directed audio tour. it was an awesome way to see the city and we did get to learn lots of interesting details even tho' with the goofy head set and highlighted map we might as well have been wearing signs saying TOURIST! the town was very cute, but also very touristy there was plenty of original tudor architecture and some very old buildings. the audio tour also included all the cheesy details re: angry mobs, mistaken murders and pirates (ARRRRR!) in the town's "sordid" past. as the town in on a cliff there were some pretty chilly breezes coming in off the ocean so it wasn't the warmest day but the weather started to clear up just as we were getting ready to leave. the town is known for it's cobbles and pottery...i was very impressed with the cobble streets, very narrow, very cute...the pottery not so much. nothing worth purchasing anyway. the way home was fine altho' we got in pretty late. i decided to go and visit with andrea and some of her friends. this involved me catching a bus from an unknown bus stop. needless to say i never found the bus stop and ended up having to take the tube and the silverlink (commuter train) to get to the pub before it closed at 11! so far london busses 1: jo 0....but just you wait, i'll be mastering them before long. bring it on buses! bring it on! i had a delightful time with andrea and met some of her class mates.
i shall continue with the last two days another time because quite frankly if you've had time to read all this you should invest in a hobby!