Windsor.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn near Windsor for the first two nights of our trip. We actually survived the drive there. Luckily it was only 15 minutes away from the airport. The only problem we ran into was the fact that we had too much luggage for the particular size of car we reserved. We had to upgrade!

This was the lovely view outside our hotel room window. Windsor Castle.

When we woke up the next morning, we decided we should go get our British Heritage Pass. It allows you to get into many attractions for FREE! We had to go to the Stratford-upon-Avon Information Centre to pick it up. Then we realized we forgot our map. We had to head out in morning traffic to find a store that sold a map. We ended up getting lost in a tiny little neighborhood with TONS of cars.

We got back on track and found a Tesco. (Kind of like a Wal-Mart--but nicer.) It was a 2 story building with parking on the lower level. There was nothing worse than figuring out which side of the parking structure you drive on. . .absolute craziness!

When we walked in, you had to take a "trolley" and go up the "trolley escalator." It was soooo cool! You pull the cart up to the escalator and a magnetic force kicks in and holds your cart in place! That way, when you have a cart full of groceries, you won't roll out of control on the way down! I wish we had that here!

We got our map (and a few other goodies) and were on our way. The next few pictures are from the 30 minute drive to Stratford. We decided we would go do all the Shakespeare things while in Stratford since we'd have our Heritage Pass.

We'll post all the Stratford pictures soon. . .I promise.