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Since Justin's marathon was on a Saturday and we wanted to stay the night in the area, we decided to take the whole day Friday. A friend of Justin's from work, Shepherd, was also running the marathon, so all four of us went up together. We had some UK paperwork mess to take care of in the morning in Birmingham, which left us the afternoon free. Warwick Castle didn't look that far, so we set off for Warwick after lunch in Birmingham.

Although it isn't cheap (especially with the current exchange rate), Warwick Castle is a well-maintained example of a highly fortified home. It's also the perfect castle for an afternoon - enough so that we were busy the whole time, but not so much that we were rushed or overwhelmed.
We walked through the insides first - the dungeon, the armoury, Caesar's Tower, the gatehouse, the Great Hall and state rooms. Since the owners of Madame Tussaud's own Warwick Castle, they use lots of wax figures throughout the castle to show its history.
After the insides, we wandered around the walls, going first up the Mound for views out the back of the castle, and then walking on the walls to climb Guy's Tower. We joked that when people asked what we did before the marathon, we could say we climbed over 500 steps up some tower after walking all around a castle.

After the castle, Erin took Malachi to the car for dinner, so Justin and Shepherd walked into the town of Warwick to buy some water. It's quite a nice little town, but it was raining so we didn't stay long. After that we headed north to our bed and breakfast, stopping at a perfect Italian place for dinner.

For the next day of our trip, click here.