Windsor Castle

It was a little colder today; high of 15 degrees, and rain was in the forecast. We didn't let that stop us from packing a picnic lunch and heading for the home of H.R.M. the Queen's weekend home, Windsor Castle. (We were warned that if we wait for guaranteed good weather while in the U.K., we won't see anything.)


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Windsor is only 52 miles from our house; dual-carriageway on the M-40. Guided by our StaNav, the traffic was light and we arrived in less than an hour. We were surprised that the castle is right in the middle of the city of Windsor! The castle has no car park so we made a lap in front of the castle to find a long term lot. £10 ($16) seemed like a lot to pay for 6 hours of parking but we were only one city block from our destination.

5 hectares (13 acres) of castle to explore.

The castle is like a city in itself. We queued to buy tickets but once we saw how long the visit would last, we decided that we should eat lunch first. Around the corner in the shadow of the castle, we found a small three story building built in the 1600's called the Drury House Restaurant. One of the lunch specials was steak and kidney pie; but I had the chicken (kidney?).

We all had the chicken pie with roast potatoes and fresh vegetables. The meal was delicious. The building was so small that the spiral staircase to the 1st and 2nd floors (the bottom floor is called the ground floor) was one way only. The toilet (restroom) was so small that I struggled to close and open the door. One cannot be claustrophobic in England.

The castle had an audio tour that you just push the button that corresponds with the sign at each location. We walked around the outside and viewed the walls and tower. The main tower was built by William the Conqueror shortly after uniting all of England after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Since William, a king or queen have always lived at the castle and each have added on to grow the complex.

William's main tower is behind Matthew with the flag on top. This is where the queen's personal flag flies when she is here. The Union Jack was flying today; no queen.

The buildings behind us are the personal quarters of the royals. This palace is the official residence of Prince Charles. The State Apartments and the Semi-State apartments are through the gate and across the courtyard.

We toured the doll house of Queen Mary. The water works and everything is to scale. The artwork are real paintings created just for the queen. Afterwards, we spent approximately 4-5 hours walking through the castle listening to the audio tour. We couldn't take photos but you can see some of the rooms by clicking on the link, below.

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=34

The room in the photo is where people, to be knighted, meet the queen before walking to St. Georges Chapel for the ceremony. I decided that, 1) I would like to have tea with the the queen, and 2) I would like to become a Knight of the Order of the Garter (but don't know how).

There was no changing of the guard ceremony but the real guards changed right in front of use while we in the queue to enter the castle.

Matthew and I were inspired and tried to sign up for guard duty but this guy wouldn't even look at us. Based on the size of this guard, we need to be much taller to qualify.

Once again, tea time ends the day!

Since we didn't have an opportunity to eat our picnic lunch, we ate it for dinner in the comfort of our living room. "What a nice day," Lori says. I agree.