Our trip to Windsor Castle

I did not bring my camera with me to dinner last night, and I regretted it as soon as my fish came because I sure want people to see how big it was!  I ended up skipping lunch, so I decided to go for the jumbo serving of cod; I couldn't finish the last couple of bites though. Sigh  In any case, I'll stop reminiscing about food that you will not see, and I probably won't have again and start off with yesterday.

It began, once again, with crumpets and black current jam from my (now favorite) patisserie:

Then we took a coach bus to Windsor Castle.  We had scheduled 1.5 hours to go, but traffic was not bad at all going out of London, so we got there a bit early.  This was actually fine because that meant we did not have to rush from the bus depot and got to leisurely walk from the bus through the train station and up to the castle and no one felt hurried in the restroom.  What I did not realize about Windsor Castle was that it is so close to the village. It is literally across the street from the shops at the train station.

I wonder what it would be like to live so close to a castle and so close to the Queen.  Windsor Castle is Queen Elizabeth's favorite residence, and I can understand why.  It is a beautiful castle, but the landscape around it is wonderful. I really wish I was able to get more pictures while I was on the bus.  I did get a picture of the Long Walk, a 2.65 mile walkway/trail that goes through Windsor Great Park (or the Great Park) from the castle to a statue of George III.  The Great Park surrounds the other sides of Windsor Castle and is 5,000 acres.

I am so glad that it was a sunny day.  If we had went on a different day, we would not have been able to see the beauty of the surroundings.

 After a bit of a detour to the entrance for school children (this is the second time we went to the wrong place because people thought our "group" was a bunch of school kids--note to remember to say we are a group of adults each time in the future), we made our way into the entrance to the castle.  We had to go through security--it is a real residence after all-- and pick up our audio guides. And then it was time to walk around outside a bit before going into the State Apartments.  Here we are walking up hill to get to castle entrance.

And here we all are in front of the castle entrance.

Here is the entrance and then you will see all sorts of pictures of the ramparts and the walkways around the outside of the castle.

Here is just one picture of the view from the Castle walls over the park and into the village.

Visitors are not allowed to take pictures while inside, so if you want to see some pictures of the State Apartments, I'd suggest going to the website: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/windsorcastle/what-to-see-and-do/the-state-apartments.  I could have easily spent more time in the castle listening to the whole tour and to every single commentary on each room and the different pieces of art work as well as all the fascinating things about the reconstruction after the big fire in the 1990s where over 1/5 of the castle was severely damaged. (see http://www.architecture.com/FindAnArchitect/ArchitectPractices/DonaldInsallAssociatesLtd/Projects/WindsorCastleFireReconstruction.aspx).  I also would love to know more about the Knights of the Garter and the ceremony that is held in the castle (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-27865164). 

 As it was, I missed the changing of the Guard.  Many of students did not and were very excited because the band played a medley from the musical Annie.

We did get pictures with one of the Guards after it was all over. He was just as stiff as they are supposed to be!

I also did not have time to go into St. George's chapel, but I did get pictures.

After Windsor Castle, we took the bus back to London. We were supposed to be dropped off at our the students' apartments, and then we were going to break for lunch and then meet up again to take the tube to see Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben.  However, our great bus driver volunteered to drop us near Westminster, which made it a lot easier for us.  

He also did a running commentary for us. I mention this because otherwise I would have missed the MI6 building and the MI5 buildings.   One of my students has already sent her brother a pic just to rub it in and to get back at him for texting her when he knows she is asleep.  This is the MI6 building.  I didn't get a good picture of the MI5 building.

We all walked around together for a bit taking pictures of the the abbey and the Houses of Parliament and then we split up for the day.  

Here are some pics of us and the area around Westminster Abbey.  The bells were playing the entire time we were there! 

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Parliament

This was too much to do in one day.  Next time, I would like to take Literature students in Westminster Abbey and do a tour.  If I am connecting the course to British Literature, I think I would like to have a tour of Parliament as well.  I did learn that we cannot go on a tour of Big Ben because only UK citizens can go on a tour inside.

Some students went off to have lunch and then go to the Abbey, some students went to the Abbey right away, and the ladies walked with us to see 10 Downing street (through the heavy gate) and then went to the Florence Nightingale Museum. 

Here is a picture of me with "the Ladies" (from right to left: Cathy, Me, Cynthia, and Deb)

Jane and I decided to go the the Churchill War Rooms which also now houses a full museum on Winston Churchill.  It was really interesting, and I know my daughter Kiana would love it, being the history/foreign policy buff that she is.  These were the rooms that Churchill and his staff worked in during the blitz on London--all underneath the ground.  Sometimes the secretaries worked 0ver ten hours shifts and then just took a nap to start again.  I would have never found this place if it weren't for Jane and looking specifically for it.  It is really tucked away.  I find it amazing that they were able to keep it such a secret for long--even after the war was over. (For more infor, see http://www.iwm.org.uk/exhibitions/churchill-war-rooms/cabinet-war-rooms) 

And remember when I said yesterday that I wished that I had gotten pictures of the front of Trafalgar square and the lions? Well, guess what we passed by on our walk home?

I am actually a day behind since I am finishing this up after day 5.  It takes quite a bit of time posting the pictures.  I have just come back from having dinner after a day in Leeds.  I will do a whole post about this tomorrow. I hope to catch up tomorrow, doing a blog today about in the morning and a posting about tomorrow in the evening, but . . .