Saturday, March 15, 2008

Day 2 - Windsor


What an absolute LOVELY day! (Well excluding the London weather of course!)

We spent the day in Windsor exploring the Castle and it's grounds! To get there we took almost 2 hours, 5 trains and a little bit of walking, but we made it without getting lost once! (OK, so one train was not needed, but we still didn't get lost!) Shortly after we arrived was the Changing of the Guards ceremony - very spectacular! I had a bad view at first taking pictures of feet and other people's heads but eventually I got onto higher ground and things were good!

After the ceremony, we continued with our audio tour to see Queen Mary's Dollhouse, the Drawing Gallery, the China Room, the State Rooms and the Semi-State Rooms. We were fortunate that the State Rooms and Semi-State rooms were open as they are not always. In fact, we were fortunate that the Queen was even on the premises when we were there! You know this by what flag flies over the main tower.

The State Rooms were most impressive with all the paintings, ornate furniture and weapons on display. It was so hard not to take pictures of everything I saw! In fact no pictures inside were even allowed. All I have is my memory and a few postcards. Windsor Castle sustained a fire back in 1992 and we were very impressed with the restoration project that they completed. It was amazing that with all the valuables and all the damage the fire did that not more was destroyed. My favorite room was the one that housed all the swords and the guns. I'm not sure which this one was but the displayed armory was fantastic! The swords were all so beautiful!

The grounds were very impressive despite the lack of flowers at this time of year. The grass was already quite green and I'm sure that the summer hosts such wonderful displays of flowers! As usual, we were greeted with sprinkles of rain during our walking tour of the grounds!

Our last stop at the Castle was St. George's Cathedral. I do not have the proper words to describe how beautiful this monument was! Again, we have only memories to take with us! I know my Dad was in awe of all the craftsmanship he saw throughout all the buildings and most especially in the Cathedral. The Hall where the Knights of the Garter met was the most impressive part for me. I think Melanie thought it was rather creepy that people were buried in tombs and in the floor of he church. I on the other hand, find it fascinating!

We left the Castle grounds and headed to Eaton College where we were greatly disappointed that no tours were being given today. We took a few photos of the College and headed back to Windsor.

Our last hurrah today was a trip on the Thames River around Windsor. It was a nice boat ride, however the crew didn't do much to educate us on the history of the area. Thus why there were only 8 people on the large boat! (OK, so it was drizzling too!) We were all still looking for more history of the area!

Our trip home included a stop at King's Cross train station where we found a nice little Italian Restaurant. It was a good meal and a nice end to a glorious day! Tonight we are all relaxing and getting ready for tomorrow - The Tower Bridge and The Tower of London!

1 comment:

toners said...

What an awesome day! Good job you were prepared for that drizzle :) Hey, I meant to add to my list: Wotsits (they're kind of like cheese puffs), just if you see any. Jamie and Iain love them!

Have fun tomorrow!! I'm loving reading your updates - it's *almost* as if you are here!

Did you have fish and chips yet???