Windsor Castle

One of the places that I had to visit while in England was Windsor Castle and I got to go there two weekends ago (I know, I'm painfully behind on blogging). Jenn and I were joined by her roomate, who was kind enough to put up with all of our museum-speak. Windsor Castle looks like this.

And in the morning it had briefly rained, so everything was misty and very British.

It is very much a place where you listen to the audio guide and follow the tour path marked out for you. I normally am the kind of person who prefers to explore somewhere, but in this case it worked. Photos are not allowed , so I don't have any pictures of the inside of the castle. My favourite things were Queen Mary's dollhouse- yep, it was me and the little girls standing with our faces pressed up against the plexiglass (didn't know I was a dollhouse person, did you?). The ceiling of St. George's Hall is breath-taking, especially considering it had to be completely restored after the fire in 1992. And then there was the chapel.

As I have previously explained, I'm not generally a big fan of churches. However, I think my favourite part of Windsor Castle was St. George's Chapel. It's an impressive size without being too big and full of historic things without being too crowded. There are a lot of famous British Kings and Queens buried in the church. I made sure to say hello to my friend (from the Fusiliers Museum) George V. The small room that contains the remains of Queen Elizabeth's mother, father, and sister is touching (and quite simplistic, given that they were a Queen, King, and Princess, respectively). There are so many monarchs there that many of them aren't even mentioned on the audio guide. Like this...

The main area of the church is split into two sections- the part where services take place and the part for the Knights. In that second section, we sat down to have a listen to the audio guide and generally gawk at the interior. After we sat down, a tour guide with a small tour group of Americans came in the room and stood in front of us, looking at a headstone on the floor that I hadn't initially noticed. He told them 'this is George III, the King who lost America'. My ancestor fought in the American Revolution on the British side. I'm sitting in front of the King who essentially brought my family (well, the Keith side of my family) to Canada. That doesn't happen every day.

Oh and down the aisle from George III is Hampton Court`s Henry VIII. An yes, his stone in the floor is very large- it has to be, since it lists all of his wives on it.