Look at this! We were in Windsor the last weekend in April. This first view is of the Windsor Castle overlooking the town. If you don't already know this, Windsor Castle is one of the main residences for the Royal family and they spend a large portion of their time here each year. Windsor is just outside of London to the West.
If you can't already tell from the bright blue skies in these pictures, we had a perfect day for our visit. It was a bit on the cool side, but so beautiful that we couldn't have ordered a better day. The above picture is part of Windsor Castle as you come up from the town below. There is quite a steep hill to get up here.
This is another view of a different part of the Castle. And down below you will see me and Angela in front of the biggest tower. We have our sweatshirts on because its still cool, but we will shortly remove those and not need them except when standing in the shade.
Did you know that Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world? I didn't know that, but its history goes back 1,000 years; all the way to William the Conqueror who founded the thing in the eleventh century.
The above picture is taken from looking down into the Mote. They've turned the Mote into a garden and it's very lovely indeed. I guess if you have a Mote and you don't want to fill it with water, this is a very good thing to do with it rather than just having an empty dike.
You can't have royalty in residence without having the Royal guard somewhere near by. Talk about concentration. I wonder what the guards think at having their picture taken by so many hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to visit here. We got there just in time to see the full changing of the guard at 11.00am. It was quite a ritual, really, and there were a pair of guards who kept going back and forth across the plaza for some unexplainable reason. I bet they know every single inch of the ground like the backs of their hands.
The changing of the guard came complete with the brass band. At the bottom of this blog you will hopefully find a very brief segment of the guards marching and another one of the band playing just so you can get a feel of it all (wouldn't upload for some reason, so I'll try again another day and see if it works then). The band was quite good in my estimation.
This is part of the other housing that is inside the Castle proper. I don't know who lives in these, but maybe the guards or some of the other staff who work here.
This is a picture of St. George's Chapel that is directly across from the picture you just saw. You can clearly see the Gothic architecture outside, but on the inside you will find tombs of 10 monarchs. Henry VIII is here, along with his third wife Jane Seymour, who died shortly after delivering Edward VI, Henry VIII's only legitimate son. Also buried here is the still born son of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife. Some scholars think that this still birth sealed Ann's fate as Henry wanted a male heir so badly and she wasn't able to provide him with one. This chapel is also the the spiritual home of the Order of the Garter, the senior order of British Chivalry established in 1348 by Edward III. Chivalry has not died totally because its spirit is maintained here! Good to know ladies!
This is a picture of the main part of the Castle. All of the state rooms are in there. We were able to see most of those and they are grand indeed. I've been to quite a few Castles and other grand homes now and I haven't seen anything to compare with some of the rooms inside this Castle. Amazing. Especially the restoration of the rooms that were destroyed/damaged by the 1992 fire.
Here is another shot of the Mote garden as we came out of the state rooms and the display of Queen Mary's famous doll house. The doll's house is housed in a couple of different rooms because it is so big. Did you know that the doll's house took three years to complete and involved 1,500 craftsmen, artists and authors? That's some doll's house. It even has electric lighting, hot and cold running water, and flushing toilets. As we looked at it and saw all the servant's quarters, kitchen staff rooms, fancy cars in the numerous garages, and so forth it struck me that only the aristocracy would think to have all that in a doll's house. Anyway, it was quite a sight, but I can't imagine anyone really playing with the thing.
Here we are in the little town of Windsor where we stopped to enjoy the sunshine and have our lunch. No need of sweatshirts now! The woman on the left is a friend of Angela's from Canada who was in town for the Royal Wedding (which took place the day before we came here) and came over from London on the train to meet us. She was very nice, though I can't remember her name now. Sorry!
This is a picture of a hop-scotch board that was laid in the stonework near where we sat. I thought it was instructive and for those of you not up on the history of England's monarchs, then this provides a lovely overview.
I'm down on a bridge crossing the Thames for this picture. Have you noticed how many airplanes are in these pictures? Well, that's because Windsor is very near Heathrow Airport and planes were taking off every few minutes all day. One of the humorous bits of the day was overhearing a younger guy, probably in his mid 20s saying to the girl he was with: 'Why did the royal family build this castle so close to the airport?' We laughed about that all day! I'm not making that up, either. He really did say that. Sad to say, that doesn't say much for his history instruction, now does it? Poor man. I hope he learned something once he visited the castle.
Look at this! We were in Windsor the last weekend in April. This first view is of the Windsor Castle overlooking the town. If you don't already know this, Windsor Castle is one of the main residences for the Royal family and they spend a large portion of their time here each year. Windsor is just outside of London to the West.
If you can't already tell from the bright blue skies in these pictures, we had a perfect day for our visit. It was a bit on the cool side, but so beautiful that we couldn't have ordered a better day. The above picture is part of Windsor Castle as you come up from the town below. There is quite a steep hill to get up here.
This is another view of a different part of the Castle. And down below you will see me and Angela in front of the biggest tower. We have our sweatshirts on because its still cool, but we will shortly remove those and not need them except when standing in the shade.
Did you know that Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world? I didn't know that, but its history goes back 1,000 years; all the way to William the Conqueror who founded the thing in the eleventh century.
The above picture is taken from looking down into the Mote. They've turned the Mote into a garden and it's very lovely indeed. I guess if you have a Mote and you don't want to fill it with water, this is a very good thing to do with it rather than just having an empty dike.
You can't have royalty in residence without having the Royal guard somewhere near by. Talk about concentration. I wonder what the guards think at having their picture taken by so many hundreds of thousands of tourists who come to visit here. We got there just in time to see the full changing of the guard at 11.00am. It was quite a ritual, really, and there were a pair of guards who kept going back and forth across the plaza for some unexplainable reason. I bet they know every single inch of the ground like the backs of their hands.
The changing of the guard came complete with the brass band. At the bottom of this blog you will hopefully find a very brief segment of the guards marching and another one of the band playing just so you can get a feel of it all (wouldn't upload for some reason, so I'll try again another day and see if it works then). The band was quite good in my estimation.
This is part of the other housing that is inside the Castle proper. I don't know who lives in these, but maybe the guards or some of the other staff who work here.
This is a picture of St. George's Chapel that is directly across from the picture you just saw. You can clearly see the Gothic architecture outside, but on the inside you will find tombs of 10 monarchs. Henry VIII is here, along with his third wife Jane Seymour, who died shortly after delivering Edward VI, Henry VIII's only legitimate son. Also buried here is the still born son of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife. Some scholars think that this still birth sealed Ann's fate as Henry wanted a male heir so badly and she wasn't able to provide him with one. This chapel is also the the spiritual home of the Order of the Garter, the senior order of British Chivalry established in 1348 by Edward III. Chivalry has not died totally because its spirit is maintained here! Good to know ladies!
This is a picture of the main part of the Castle. All of the state rooms are in there. We were able to see most of those and they are grand indeed. I've been to quite a few Castles and other grand homes now and I haven't seen anything to compare with some of the rooms inside this Castle. Amazing. Especially the restoration of the rooms that were destroyed/damaged by the 1992 fire.
Here is another shot of the Mote garden as we came out of the state rooms and the display of Queen Mary's famous doll house. The doll's house is housed in a couple of different rooms because it is so big. Did you know that the doll's house took three years to complete and involved 1,500 craftsmen, artists and authors? That's some doll's house. It even has electric lighting, hot and cold running water, and flushing toilets. As we looked at it and saw all the servant's quarters, kitchen staff rooms, fancy cars in the numerous garages, and so forth it struck me that only the aristocracy would think to have all that in a doll's house. Anyway, it was quite a sight, but I can't imagine anyone really playing with the thing.
Here we are in the little town of Windsor where we stopped to enjoy the sunshine and have our lunch. No need of sweatshirts now! The woman on the left is a friend of Angela's from Canada who was in town for the Royal Wedding (which took place the day before we came here) and came over from London on the train to meet us. She was very nice, though I can't remember her name now. Sorry!
This is a picture of a hop-scotch board that was laid in the stonework near where we sat. I thought it was instructive and for those of you not up on the history of England's monarchs, then this provides a lovely overview.
I'm down on a bridge crossing the Thames for this picture. Have you noticed how many airplanes are in these pictures? Well, that's because Windsor is very near Heathrow Airport and planes were taking off every few minutes all day. One of the humorous bits of the day was overhearing a younger guy, probably in his mid 20s saying to the girl he was with: 'Why did the royal family build this castle so close to the airport?' We laughed about that all day! I'm not making that up, either. He really did say that. Sad to say, that doesn't say much for his history instruction, now does it? Poor man. I hope he learned something once he visited the castle.
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