Windsor Castle and family

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Today my sister informed me that my blog has been somewhat boring lately. I pointed out that this was due to me being sick and therefore, my LIFE had been somewhat boring. So, to make up for that, I can now say that I was able to do some sightseeing this past weekend.

Saturday, I went to Windsor Castle. I had a finite amount of time because I needed to be at my brother's around 5:00 PM. When I arrived in Windsor, there was a LOT of traffic! There were quite a few people who had decided to visit Windsor that day. I was finally able to make it to some parking fairly close to the castle. I walked over to the Admissions and stood in line (or queued). Once I finally got in, I picked up an audio guide. I also noticed that there was a guided tour that had just begun, so I joined it. The guide was really good. He was a retiree and had taken this job about 5 years ago. He took all around the outside of the castle and the tour lasted about 45 minutes.

I then went into the Drawings Gallery where there is an exhibition of Henry VIII. This year marks the 500th anniversary of his ascension to the throne. There were several interesting drawings of people from the court. Most of these drawings were probably in preparation for paintings.

After that, I went into the State Apartments. I really wish I could have taken photos inside because several of the rooms were spectacular. My favorite room was the room that contains all of the shields from the members of the Order of the Garter. The room is HUGE. There are just over 1000 men and women who have been part of the order since it began back in 14th century. (Just a bit of trivia - the 1000th member is Prince William). For those members who then got into trouble (like treason), their shields are still there, but are painted over.

I was also able to go into the Moat Gardens. They are rarely open, so I took advantage of wandering around and taking some pictures of the flowers.

The other place I visited while there was St. George's Chapel. This is where King Henry VIII is buried with his 3rd wife, Jane Seymour.

When I left Windsor Castle, I headed to my brother's. I was playing baby-sitter so my brother and sister-in-law could go to dinner with some friends. I had a good time playing with my nephews. Jack is 3 1/2 and Theo just turned 1. Jack kept asking if it was time for Theo to go to bed. His parents had told him that he could watch a video once Theo was in bed. :-)

After they were in bed, I looked through a travel guide book for the UK. I made a list of places I want to visit while I'm here.

Sunday, I hung out with the family. We went to church and then rested a bit after lunch. After that, we walked around the college where they live and my brother is a professor/lecturer. Then we just hung around in the back garden (backyard) because the weather was FABULOUS this weekend. I stuck around through dinner and then headed home.

So, that concludes my weekend. Next weekend is a 3 day weekend since Monday is a bank holiday. I will "celebrate" that instead of Labor Day this year.

Here are some links to photos (if they get stripped, email me and I will send you the link):

Windsor: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/navygirl29/WindsorAug2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCNy_r_7D8_adAg#

Family: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/navygirl29/LondonFamily?authkey=Gv1sRgCKqIvKeD3IHHMA#

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Comments

[Debby Whitfield]

I need the links
Rebekah, I was sorry to hear that you had taken the flu right after settling in country. It sounds like you had a really bad case of it. Did you go to the doctor? I would love for you to email me the picture links so that I can look at the pictures of Windsor, etc. Windsor was closed when I was in England because a couple of pesky princes had decided to horse around and in so doing set the place on fire. I was so disappointed. Oh well. Send me the links so I can look. Hope you are getting your strength back and can work comfortably this week. Love, Aunt Deb