Windsor Castle
Trip Start
Sep 16, 2009
1
38
39
Trip End
Nov 01, 2009
London, England, United Kingdom
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Windsor Castle
We decided to go to Windsor Castle, and we hoped to get to the Tower of London in the afternoon. We travelled to Paddington Station, where we bought our tickets to Nottingham (for Sunday) and to Windsor. It took us 50 mins by train to reach Windsor castle, with a change of trains at Slough.
As we approached the town of Windsor, the huge castle was easy to see as it dominated the skyline. Apparently Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. We were pleased to see the Queen's standard flying as we approached the castle on foot. We thought that we may have a chance to see the changing of the guard, however we were on the wrong day for this event (held every second day).
We took the self-guided tour and began our exploration at the State Apartments. This was an amazing tour through the beautifully decorated rooms of the castle. This castle is where the Queen does most of her entertaining, with some lucky guests occasionally having the opportunity to sleep overnight. The castle's porcelain, paintings and military conquest artifacts were fascinating. The Waterloo room, celebrating that famous victory over Napoleon in Belgium, was a magnificent sight, as the room was especially designed and decorated with the portraits of all the important leaders involved in the successful battle. Even a picture of the then Pope was there, and the artist had to travel especially to Rome to paint his obviously reluctant portraiture subject.
The rooms celebrating the order of the garter were also interesting, with every knight of this order having his or her own crest. After the State Apartments, we went to St. George's Chapel. The Chapel is a community church as well as the sovereign's local church. King Henry VIII is buried there, along with other royals including Charles I (who was beheaded). The chapel also has a choir stall for each living garter knight, and a plaque for the knights who have passed away.
British Museum
After Windsor Castle, Ann went to the Aztec exhibition at the British Museum. She had been reading a book about the Aztecs so she was really interested in the exhibition. She said that it was ok, but not fantastic.
West End Show
While Ann was at the museum, I went to buy tickets at Leicester Square for a West End theatre show. Most shows were sold out, but I managed to get two tickets to 'Ratpack'. Ratpack is a recreation of the Las Vegas shows at the Sands hotel in the 1950s and 60s with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jnr and Dean Martin. We went to the show together and it was real fun with lots of laughs. There was quite a bit of audience interaction and in my opinion, the singing was great. Ann did not quite agree with the singing quality, but we both enjoyed the ad-lib, relaxed style of the comedy and of the show overall.
Overall, we had a great day!
