Horse Races!

We had an absolute blast at the horse races last night: Kempton Park Racecourse, just three stops from Shepperton. I had no idea what to expect, but I'd read about it as "things to do" in Surrey, so I dragged the family out. It was such fun! The train stopped right at the racecourse, we paid our entrance fee, and asking for help and tips in my thick American accent worked like a charm. (I also think that's what got me out of being in more trouble when I photographed a horse and my flash went off -- that is a big no, no in front of horses! It was after the race though, not before, if that makes it any less horrifying -- it was my winning horse!)

We all of us won something on the races we bet on. There were seven races total, and we'd arrived a little late and missed the first two, then spent the next one figuring out how it works and what was going on, then we bet on 4, 5, and 6, and sat out the seventh because the lines were getting too long. Anna bet on a horse to win, and won! Then Alex and Anna both bet on horses to place, and they one first and second! Then I bet on a horse to place, and it won. I wish I'd bet on it to win -- it was 9-1 odds.

Arthur arrived even later and didn't get a chance to bet, but it was just so much fun seeing the horses paraded out before the races, the jockeys mount, and then the winners brought out after. And, of course, winning was a lot of fun, too. We actually came out ahead by about 4 pounds. But Anna and Alex had no qualms about just taking their winnings and not deducting what I had placed for them as bets.

Today it is raining at last. Really, after this heat, the rain is a relief. We're heading into London and the British Museum, which I think is a good way to spend a rainy day. Then tomorrow, we're off to Paris!