There were other interesting things to see in Windsor itself, so I decided to do a separate posting for the non-Castle attractions. The shot above and the one below are about one of the most highly acclaimed architects in English history; Sir Christopher Wren. I'm sure you've heard of him at some point.
The above picture is certainly a modest house for a person who rebuilt 51 of London's churches, including his Masterpiece St. Paul's Cathedral, that were destroyed in the catastrophic Great Fire of 1666. That fire reportedly consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral, and most of the buildings that housed the city government offices. One estimation claims that the fire destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants. The fire raged from 2 September to 5 September. Anyway, I didn't know Christopher Wren lived in Windsor, but it seems from what I've been able discover, that little is known of his Windsor life and that he lived here when a boy.
Eton College, established by Henry VI in the 1440s, is also located in Windsor, so we took a jaunt down there to see some of the buildings. Being a holiday weekend for the Royal Wedding, none of the buildings were open, but the outsides of them were interesting. The above picture is of the chapel. Eton boys attend church every Sunday, no matter what religious persuasion they are. The Eton website says, 'College Chapel dominates the Eton landscape both physically and spiritually. Whether as a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or atheist, this space challenges us to come to terms with what it stands for . . . And so the school requires boys to experience it, whatever their persuasion, for it stands for the requirement that each human life come to terms with its place in the great scheme of things, whether or not in the way that Henry envisaged.'
Here is a building that is just up from the Eton Chapel. I haven't been able to find out what it is, but the architecture is interesting. Being close to the church, perhaps it has something to do with the religious personnel who must staff the chapel.
This picture is of the Library. It is across the road from the previous picture.
This is a sample of the living accommodation of Eton boys. You can see a pair of the lads near the centre of the picture. They were everywhere as we walked along. It costs £9,954 per half [i.e. term; there are three terms in a year] to attend Eton if you are not on some sort of a scholarship. If you want your boy to have extras, like music, fencing, judo, or rowing then you have to pay more for it. There are 70 King's scholarships (established originally by Henry VI) who receive 10% of the total fee amount, which doesn't seem like very much. However, it appears that Eton college will work with boys who are offered scholarships and still can't afford the reduced fees. Interesting.
And then, this curious picture is of a Swan sitting on her eggs. We stumbled across her as we tried to find our way off an island in the middle of the Thames. I think she was as surprised to see us as we were to see her. We did eventually find our way off, but our wanderings on that strip of land were part of the highlights of the trip. I think Angela thought I was crazy to go exploring in such a random fashion!
This is our strip of island! Don't be deceived because that bridge thing you can see on the right is inaccessible to pedestrians from either side and we were unable to get off that way. The Swan's nest was right on the tip of land that is poking out. So? How did we get ourselves onto that strip of land in the first place? Well . . . we took a walk and . . . (you'll have to ask me about it some time).
There were other interesting things to see in Windsor itself, so I decided to do a separate posting for the non-Castle attractions. The shot above and the one below are about one of the most highly acclaimed architects in English history; Sir Christopher Wren. I'm sure you've heard of him at some point.
The above picture is certainly a modest house for a person who rebuilt 51 of London's churches, including his Masterpiece St. Paul's Cathedral, that were destroyed in the catastrophic Great Fire of 1666. That fire reportedly consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral, and most of the buildings that housed the city government offices. One estimation claims that the fire destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants. The fire raged from 2 September to 5 September. Anyway, I didn't know Christopher Wren lived in Windsor, but it seems from what I've been able discover, that little is known of his Windsor life and that he lived here when a boy.
Eton College, established by Henry VI in the 1440s, is also located in Windsor, so we took a jaunt down there to see some of the buildings. Being a holiday weekend for the Royal Wedding, none of the buildings were open, but the outsides of them were interesting. The above picture is of the chapel. Eton boys attend church every Sunday, no matter what religious persuasion they are. The Eton website says, 'College Chapel dominates the Eton landscape both physically and spiritually. Whether as a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or atheist, this space challenges us to come to terms with what it stands for . . . And so the school requires boys to experience it, whatever their persuasion, for it stands for the requirement that each human life come to terms with its place in the great scheme of things, whether or not in the way that Henry envisaged.' 
Here is a building that is just up from the Eton Chapel. I haven't been able to find out what it is, but the architecture is interesting. Being close to the church, perhaps it has something to do with the religious personnel who must staff the chapel. 
This picture is of the Library. It is across the road from the previous picture.
This is a sample of the living accommodation of Eton boys. You can see a pair of the lads near the centre of the picture. They were everywhere as we walked along. It costs £9,954 per half [i.e. term; there are three terms in a year] to attend Eton if you are not on some sort of a scholarship. If you want your boy to have extras, like music, fencing, judo, or rowing then you have to pay more for it. There are 70 King's scholarships (established originally by Henry VI) who receive 10% of the total fee amount, which doesn't seem like very much. However, it appears that Eton college will work with boys who are offered scholarships and still can't afford the reduced fees. Interesting.
And then, this curious picture is of a Swan sitting on her eggs. We stumbled across her as we tried to find our way off an island in the middle of the Thames. I think she was as surprised to see us as we were to see her. We did eventually find our way off, but our wanderings on that strip of land were part of the highlights of the trip. I think Angela thought I was crazy to go exploring in such a random fashion!
This is our strip of island! Don't be deceived because that bridge thing you can see on the right is inaccessible to pedestrians from either side and we were unable to get off that way. The Swan's nest was right on the tip of land that is poking out. So? How did we get ourselves onto that strip of land in the first place? Well . . . we took a walk and . . . (you'll have to ask me about it some time).
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