Bea woke us up at 8 (We slept in!) when she brought us our breakfasts. The eggs were a very odd colour of orangey yellow but we ate them anyway. We wondered what they feed their chickens over here. Got ourselves put together by 930 and off we went to the airport via the tube. This particular morning there was a problem with one of the lines so we had to go to Holbron station and transfer trains but we were getting better at it by this time so only needed a few directions to the piccadilly line to Heathrow. Watch the Gap.
It took over an hour to get to the airport.
Arrived at the airport terminal 3 information booth in a bit of a panic at 11 and looked for our driver who was supposed to pick us up at 11. We would know him by the city transfer card that he would be carrying but he was not there. We checked the signs for all the drivers who were there . We were starting to get concerned when about 5 minutes later he showed up. Ernie was very nice and drove us the 20 minutes drive to Windsor.
Now you are probably wondering what the heck we were doing spending one night in London and then leaving. Well that was part of the whole rearranging of the tour that we had planned. the original tour was going to leave on sunday from london and we were going to go to stonehenge on saturday but when our tour got changed we had to rearrange our activities. c’est sera. We got to see Hyde, Kensington and Holland Parks with all its lovely green to get us out of winter mode and into green England Mode. ( and we got souvenir umbrellas)
Ernie Dropped us off at the Harte and Garter Hotel right across the street from Windsor castle. A lovely hotel upgraded from the 400 year old hotel that is was. our room was not quite ready so signed in and went out to grab a bite to eat and see the sights before our tour started at 230.
Windsor is a lovely town with cobblestone streets and lots of restaurants and shops selling souvenirs. I picked up some postcards at one shop and some more at another. some coasters and pencils and a shot glass for one of the guys at work. Margie and I then had a bite to eat at a small place with good quiche and salads for me and lasagna and salad for Margie. Odd lasagna with a béchamel sauce instead of cheese but supposedly a favourite in Windsor.
Back to the hotel, picked up our room keys, 207, they had already brought up our luggage, thank you very much. it was a bit of a maze with ups and downs, turns and doors to more hallways. when we finally found our room we were very pleasantly surprised to find it was a very large comfortable room on the quiet side of the building. We had showers after Margie figured them out, odd showers, wrote postcards and at 215 went to the main lobby to join our tour group and start our tour of Windsor castle.
It was a blustery Easter day and as our tour guide Peter herded 14 of us along and gave us instructions on how to greet the Queen if we rani nto her ( her standard was flying which meant she was in residence) I couldn’t help but think of how the times had changed. Here we were just common folk going into a castle to just look around where once we would only have gotten to see it if we were working there in some capacity.
Windsor castle is lovely from the outside once you get past the large outer walls. we picked up audio guides and popped into the gift shop where I bought a washcloth for me and post cards of course.
The tour was about to begin outside and it started to rain so out came our lovely souvenir umbrella, mine yellow and Margies' the black pin stripe. The wind whipped up and we were pretty much wind blown around the castle. The gardens in moats, the arrow slits in the walls , the gates, it was all so castley we just loved it. We both took lots of photos outside but no photos were allowed inside. then Went to see Queen Mary’s doll house. The line was outside around the back of the castle with a view of Eton in the distance. the line moved fairly quickly so we did not get too wet.
The doll house was amazing! and way bigger than I thought it was. Queen Mary received gifts of miniatures from around the continent which she put into her doll house for display. It was a work of art really. all the detail in those little rooms working lights, bathrooms and kitchens, gardens, it was lovely.
the tour of Winsor Castle itself was laid kurt very nicely and the audio guides great. the staff were very informative giving us little bits of history and tidbits of information that made it feel very personal . Colin in the drawings room was very happy to tell us the entire history of England and the taxation problems since william the conquerer. All I asked was is How old is Windsor Castle? Sheesh. But he really was very well informed and happy to share.
the castle is beautiful with each room its own world. there were only a few rooms that were a little over the top as in most of Versailles. the rest were very tasteful, rich in detail, colour and history.
as it was Easter our tour started late and so we did not have the whole afternoon to see the castle. we ended up being shoed along nicely at the castle was closing to the public so we missed a few rooms. My favourites were probably the shield room, st georges room and the small ballroom and the garden in the moat.. we stopped at another gift shop, there were several in the castle, and Margie bought a lovely swarovsky flower basket broach and I bought a swarovsky crown necklace along with a butter knife from buckingham palace on sale. we headed out taking more photos and another gift shop where we got some more postcards. Pictures of the inside of the castle for my album. on the way out of the castle i saw a mail box and couldn’t resist mailing two of the post cards form inside the castle. what fun! I wondered if it would have a royal stamp on it?
We got back to the hotel about 530 and went up to the room to change and get ready for dinner at 6, well drinks at 6. We were downstairs with drinks in hand by 555, had beer again. I had Tetley and Margie had an argentinian beer, San Miquel, which I actually liked better than the tetley. Peter gave us all a little talk on what would be happening the next day and then we had supper. Buffet, pasta salad and veggies for me, dessert was very good. We both decided to do the after dinner tour of Windsor. It was a lovely evening, no rain, not too cool and interesting. More photos on a lovely if fairly quick walk past the castle and the queens gate and road, the river Thames, swans, bridges to Eton and clocks in the sidewalk. I did not fall asleep until after 1230. Arranged a wake up call for 630. What a great day. Forgot to sprinkle mom and dad somewhere in the castle but will get them out tomorrow into Windsor somewhere.
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