William W.
Yelp
Right, so you've seen everything in London, perhaps your kids are tired of museums and churches, and you wonder if the trek out to Windsor is worth it. Yes, it is!
My wife is a fan of the royals. I couldn't care less, nor could our son. We were almost museum-ed out at this point in the trip (I think we saw every museum in London). But my wife really wanted to see Windsor Castle and I obliged.
Of the billions of castles we saw in the UK and Ireland, this one truly stands out! The courtyard, the river, the gardens, the artwork, the weaponry, all spectacular! And unlike some tours we took, Windsor is an actual place that the royal family frequents and hosts events, not some place they visit once a decade. This side trip was very much worth it!
Now, here is how to actually get there. It's quite easy. We took the subway to the Paddington station. Without even walking outside (in the rain), we seamlessly transitioned from the Underground to the train station there. We found a kiosk and purchased "return tickets"
(that's British for round trip tickets) to the Windsor & Eton station. I believe first class tickets were about US $35 each.
We took the train from Paddington to Slough where the train ends, exited, checked the sign for the proper platform to catch the train to Windsor & Eton, and got there quite quickly (maybe 30 minutes total from Paddington to Windsor). It's just that easy.
My only hope is that, with countless of reviews on Yelp, someone can actually find my review and make use of these very concise directions.