Advertisement
Published: January 17th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Our original plan had been to visit Stonehenge on Sunday. I have been to this part of England several times in my flying career and never made the effort to go. I mostly got as far as the local pub with my crew, followed by some British food, and a jet lagged early night.
This time I promised myself that Stonehenge was in the cards - convincing Derek and Troy was easy and we headed west from London on the M3 motorway. Troy was particularly indifferent and just wanted to sleep in the back seat after flying from Canada in that morning. There are generally two schools of thought on the N.America to England flight - go early in the morning to arrive late at night and get a good (but early) night's sleep. The other is to fly through the night to arrive in the morning with the hopes of sleeping on the aircraft (unless you're the pilot...). Troy had chosen the latter and didn't sleep much on the flight. He curled up into the backseat of the Passat (English version - tight) and Derek and I took the front with me driving. I am finally used to switching from
driving on the right side in most of the world to driving on the left. I come to England once per year on average to visit my family or because my work as a pilot brings me over.
It is a beautiful day and the sun is shining. Troy attempts sleep but can't resist joining the conversation from time to time. Derek, the consumate multi-tasker, attempts to read the local paper, listen to the radio, and talk to me. It is noon and none of us has eaten. The subject of food, particularly coffee, comes up and we think about pulling over. Derek says the last time he drove West from London he saw a castle close to the highway. He's forgotten the name and we try to guess as a signpost passes us saying Windsor Castle next exit.
We take the exit and after another half hour (and several wrong turns - crazy British signposts!) arrive at Windsor. The castle looks spectacular from a distance. The sun is shining and we park the car in a multi-storey car park and walk into the 'old town'. It's Sunday but there aren't too many people around. A quick stop at Costa's for a coffee and danish and we are walking up the main street to the castle entrance. There is a short line to visit the castle. The cost is 7 pounds on account of renovations (regularly 14 pounds - how do people afford to live here?). We pass through a security check metal detector (they are everywhere now) and pick up our free audio wands.
The tour is spectacular - Windsor castle has been around for over 1000 years or so. It is on significantly higher ground than the local countryside and the view on this clear sunny day is beautiful. In the near and far distance there are houses and industrial buildings. Down below, closer to the castle, I can see a football game being played and wish that I was playing! Derek is posing for some pictures - one of which is to be included soon (no, he's not gay but sometimes likes to pretend he is).
The audio guide is quite amusing - Prince Charles talks about the castle's history and current condition. Each spot on the tour has a number that can be punched into the wand. Before Prince Charles speaks there is a 10 second musical introduction of royal proportions that soon has all three of us laughing.
The castle grounds have been expanded through the years. Various quarters have been added to the point where Windsor Castle can hardly be called a Castle at all - rather a sprawling expanse of stone buildings on a hill...
The tour is over and we hand our wands back. Troy insists on getting his ticket punched so that he can return within the year for the full tour for free. I know myself too well to know that I wont remember where I put the ticket when the time comes so I throw my ticket away.
It's 1pm and we're all really hungry. We spot a small Greek restaurant called Latino on the cobbled street close to the Castle.
After lunch we get lost several times looking for our car but eventually find our way back. We head off to Swindon feeling cultured and well fed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0397s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb