On Saturday, Phil kindly offered us a ride to Windsor Castle as it was something we all wanted to see, being the tourists that we are.
After a good hour and a half drive we arrived in Windsor and found a carpark about 15 minutes walk away. The crowds were not too bad, as it was not yet school holidays, but there were still plenty of people walking the grounds.
After paying the entry fee (almost 15 pounds each! - 35 Aussie dollars) we headed into the Castle.
Gardens inside the Castle
Big Hat...
Windsor Castle is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world, is one of the official residences of Her Majesty The Queen. The Castle's site includes 900 years of British history. It covers an area of 26 acres and contains, a royal palace, a chapel and the homes and workplaces of a large number of people.
From the website:
‘The State Apartments are furnished with some of the finest works of art from the Royal Collection, including paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Canaletto, Gainsborough and the famous triple portrait of Charles I by Sir Anthony van Dyck.
In 1992 fire destroyed or damaged more than 100 rooms at the Castle. By good fortune the rooms worst affected were empty at the time, and as a result, few of the Castle's artistic treasures were destroyed. The highly acclaimed restoration work, completed in 1997, is a testament to the extraordinary skills of some of the finest craftsmen in Europe.
Armed Guards
One of Phil's patented jumping shots
King George IV's private apartments (the Semi-State Rooms) are among the most richly decorated interiors in the Castle.
Sorry, but visitors are not allowed to take photos inside the buildings, hence i have grabbed these from the website!
Inside some of the State Apartment Rooms
Large displays of Weaponry and Armor we located in entrance halls to warn visitors of the Power the Monarch had.
Typical Apartment Room (left) and one of the Armor Rooms
Painting
St George's Chapel is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in England. It is the spiritual home of the Order of the Garter, the senior order of British Chivalry established in 1348 by Edward III. Within the chapel are the tombs of ten sovereigns, including Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour, and Charles I. Among the highlights of a visit to Windsor is Queen Mary's Dolls' House, the most famous dolls' house in the world.
The Drawings Gallery shows changing exhibitions of material from the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. The special display below is shown alongside a selection of treasures from the Royal Library. The current exhibition was of the Photographs to celebrate the 80th Birthday of The Queen.’
There were a number of famous portraits taken by Joan Bown, so it was great to see a famous Bown family member! Not sure how closely related we are though…
Typcial Portraits by Photograpghers, including Joan Bown
‘Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. Over a period of nearly 1,000 years it has been inhabited continuously, and altered and refurbished by successive monarchs
Great Dining Hall
The twentieth-century history of the Castle is dominated by the major fire that started on 20 November 1992. It began in the Private Chapel, when a spotlight came into contact with a curtain and ignited the material. It took 15 hours and one-and-a-half million gallons of water to put out the blaze. Nine principal rooms and over 100 other rooms over an area of 9,000 square metres were damaged or destroyed by the fire, approximately one-fifth of the Castle area. The next five years were spent restoring Windsor Castle to its former glory. It resulted in the greatest historic building project to have been undertaken in the UK in the twentieth century, reviving many traditional crafts. The restoration was completed six months ahead of schedule on 20 November 1997 at a cost of £37 million. Seventy per cent of the necessary revenue was raised from opening Buckingham Palace's State Rooms to visitors in August and September.’
For more information feel free to check out this site:
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page557.asp
Gardens inside the Castle
The old Murder Holes are within the arch roof
Views from the Castle
Chapel on the left
And inside the Chapel:
It was also St Patrick Day today!
Here's to St Patricks Day - Cheers
The view of Windsor over a pint of Guinness...
We finished the afternoon off with a late lunch and Guinness at one of the local Pubs, with a view from our window out onto the towering Windsor Castle.
Some other interesting things happened on this day, being St Patrick's Day. The Irish won their first ever game of world cup cricket in the West Indies, so we had a pint of Guinness to celebrate. And no real surprises, the English lost the Rugby against Wales, even though they were a far better side. Who would want to be an English sports fan?
