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Published: June 11th 2017
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We set the alarm for the first time in a several days (just for 7:20) and had a leisurely breakfast before leaving Carolann's at about ten to nine yesterday morning. We walked to the nearby tube station and took the District Line to Earl's Court, where we were picked up by the mini van to take us to Windsor Castle.
The original castle was built in the 11th C. It has been used by all monarchs since the time of Henry 1, and is the longest occupied palace in Europe.
The drive to Windsor was extremely slow as there was some sort of traffic problem on the M4 (or M something or other). We couldn't take the highway so instead wound our way through various cute villages. After some time I realized we were actually almost back where we started, in Ealing! But we eventually got to Windsor, and walked from the car park to the entrance, with our driver. We had to wait at least 15 min at the entrance as our tickets were sorted out (since we had tickets booked ahead from the tour company we did not have to wait in the very long line up).
We picked up our handheld audio tours and off we went, first to the State Apartments. They were really amazing. Such ornately decorated and furnished rooms. These are the public rooms, not the private rooms of the current royal family. They would have been used for big dinners and receptions in the past. Quite beautiful and very interesting. Full of outstanding art work. No photos allowed inside the Castle so I have no photos I'm afraid. (I downloaded some photos but they are mostly pretty poor quality - just to give you an idea of what we saw).
During the tour we saw where the fire started, which quite badly damaged the Castle in 1992, and areas where restoration work occurred. They did a fabulous job repairing the damage the fire caused, though I'm sure it cost a lot of money.
We saw an exhibition at the Castle called "Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from the Queen's Wardrobe". There were many of the outfits worn by the Queen over the years, from her girl guide uniform to more recent gowns. There were photos showing the Queen wearing the outfits alongside the outfits themselves, which were
Windsor Village
Lots of cute shops, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!) we didn't have time to browse. fun to see.
After the State Apartments we went to St. George's Chapel, a really beautiful church on the Castle grounds. It was built in the 15th C and the interior is really amazing to see. Also no photos allowed inside.
We had two hours at the Castle, but could easily have spent another couple of hours visiting the very cute town of Windsor. We grabbed a sandwich on the way out and met our van and headed back into London. Carolann picked us up at the tube station and we drove to Susan's aunt and uncle's home in Uxbridge. We had a nice visit with them, plus a cup of tea and biscuits. Susan's uncle Dennis showed us a medal he recently received from the French government for his wartime service which was very impressive.
We drove back to Carolann's and had a bit of time before heading out to meet Susan's cousins for dinner at a restaurant in Covent Garden called Loch Fyne. It was really good and we had a nice evening, with several bottles of wine and good conversation. We took the tube from Ealing Broadway to Holborn, switched to the Piccadilly line
for one stop to Covent Garden where we walked to the restaurant. Covent Garden is a really cute area, next time we come to London we will have to spend some time there.
I'm typing this in Carolann's kitchen on Wed morning. We will be leaving for Heathrow around 10, for our 2:10 flight to Vancouver. It's a 9 hr 30 min flight. I hope nobody is sitting in the middle seat so we can stretch out a bit.
It's so hard to believe we'll be home soon! Today is our 30th day of travelling, and while I could certainly travel for longer, it will be nice to get home. I will write a reflections of our trip blog in a few days. Good bye from London!
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Tuula Pajak
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Great trip!