Windsor Castle

Hi all,

Last night I showed mum and dad around my local area and my flat and then we went for dinner at a restaurant along Regents canal that I've always had my eye on. It was quite nice! We had a good evening chatting away. 

Today I went and met mum and dad at Paddington station and we caught the train to Windsor & Eton Central via Slough. Here we went to Windsor Castle, which I really wanted to go to in 2011 but we ran out of time! 

Windsor Castle was founded by William the Conqueror at the end of the 11th century. It has been home to 39 monarchs and is the oldest royal residence in the British Isles to have remained in continuous use. It's the size of 268 tennis courts! 

We had a great day using our audio guides. The queen's flag was flying on the round tower, we checked and apparently she stays there most weekends and arrived yesterday at 2pm! 

We went and watched the changing of the guard. It was good, but you had the typical pushy tourists wanting to take a photo or video of the whole thing instead of enjoying the experience. That ruined it a little, but we laughed at the grumpy chief guardsman and had fun talking as loud as possible into peoples' videos that pushed us! Had a nice surprise when the band played 'Goodbye Dolly Gray' (Good Old Collingwood Forever).

We then explored the state rooms which were lavish and lovely. There was a fire on the 20th November 1992 which took 15 hours for 200 firefighters to put out, destroying a lot of the roof and a few rooms, but it's since been well restored (for the bargain price of £37,000,000). We saw armour of King Henry VIII, a plaque where the fire started and interesting chinaware. We then looked at Queen Mary's dollhouse, which was very over the top and full of mini furniture!

Lastly we looked in St George's Chapel. We were enjoying exploring the nave when the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate! Luckily it was a false alarm and not a repeat of 1992 and we soon were allowed back in. We then saw the graves of the current queen's grandparents and parents, as well as King Henry VIII.

It was a lovely sunny 26 degree day, so afterwards we had lunch at a cafe and sat outside before enjoying a stroll along Windsor High Street. Summer is absolutely manic here though - it was so busy!

Then we got the train back and tonight the three of us are seeing 'Wicked' with Jamie. 

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox