Day 6 - Hail Britannia

Wednesday, Sept 4th, 2013 

Hot, Hot HOT!  It got up to 27 degrees today, but felt more like 30. We walked to Paddington Train Station to catch the Train to Slough where we then had to transfer to the Windsor/Eton train for the final leg. 

The view of the Tower at Windsor Castle from the road

Castle Gates

St. George Slaying the Dragon above the inner castle gates

Pulling into the station you catch a glimpse just a glimpse of Windsor Castle.  The actual town of Windsor is very quaint with tiny shops along cobblestone streets with the usual coffee shops and cafes.  We started off walking up to the Castle following the path along to the courtyard where our tour of the castle's kitchen.  Along the way we passed the moat which is now a beautiful rose garden. It reminded Chelsea of something from Beauty and the Beast as it's a very romantic garden.

Moat Garden

Lilly Pond in the Moat

Governor of the Castle's private garden

Our Great Kitchen Tour started at 12:15 PM and they assembled our group in the State Entranceway which was decorated with coat of arms, lances, sabres, and swords.  There were so many that I couldn't begin to count them.  There was even Persian chain mail from the Crusades on display!From there we made our way down the corridor of the hall to the Under Croft   This is a Stone arched room that has been stripped down to it's original stonework since the Great Windsor Fire in 1982. A fire broke out in Windsor Castle due to a spotlight catching a curtain on fire and in the end it caused over 36 million pounds worth of damage.  As a result, many of the wooden panels and fabrics were destroyed, and because of all the water damage, many parts were gutted down to stone in order to dry and restore the rooms.  While this was catastrophic in nature, it actually benefited citizens of the UK and visitors in two ways; one) Archaeological finds were discovered during the renovation and restoration process that had never been discovered before, and two) Buckingham Place was placed on view to the general public in order to generate revenue to cover the costs of the renovation project at Windsor. 

We made our way to the Kitchen and what a kitchen it was.  It was a large room with large windows that allowed the light to stream in and the ceiling was lined with wooden oak beams like the hull of a ship.  The decorative paneling was new due to the original one being destroyed in the fire, but it followed the pattern that was there before and was made from oak as well.  There were multiple gas ranges, both new and old.  The oldest gas cooker was installed by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, as he was an advocate of the newest technology and back in the late 1800's, gas was a new invention.  That this cooker is still being used is pretty neat - the cooks were offered a new one, but they said that they actually preferred the one that was over a hundred and fifty years old! Chelsea and I drooled over the copper cookware assembled as decoration. 

Along the ceiling was a railing that held a multitude of copper pots, jelly moulds  measuring cups, sauce pans, and kettles.  These are not used any more  but the sight of all that gleaming copper was something to see.  It would have been great to have seen the chefs in action, but as the Queen is in Scotland it's the only way that we were allowed in.  Once she comes back from summer holidays the Castle is off limits for tourists. 

As we were exiting the kitchen tour, I noticed the desk was advertising a "Conquer the Tower" tour that day.  Again, this only happens in August and September when the Queen is in Scotland. We went up to the original tower rampart which offered a great view of the Quadrangle, Queen's apartments, and Windsor town.  We then went up some more steps to the top of the floor added on later by King George IV. On top of the Round Tower was a flag pole flying the Union Jack.  Our guide explained that it was really a Douglas Fir tree that was given to the Queen by the Canadian Government in 1892. A cool piece of Canada that's still standing tall.

The Douglas Fir Flagpole

View from the top of the tower

View of St. George Chapel from the Tower

We then climbed up to the very top of the Round Tower.  This additional 36 feet was added by King George IV as he felt the Tower didn't make a big enough impact upon arrival to Windsor Castle. From here you could see miles around - to Heathrow Airport and even the city of London (26 miles away).  With brilliant blue skies, it was an incredible site.  We still had a lot to see at the Castle, so we headed down to tour the State Apartments.  These are the banquet rooms and state rooms used by the Queen when she is in residence to greet foreign dignitaries or heads of state.  Like Buckingham Palace, it was room after room all rich decorating with gold, damask fabrics, exotic china, silver, and gold.  Famous paintings lines the rooms - from Hans Holbein, Reubens, and Van Dyck.  It really is mind boggling the wealth displayed.  

We finished up visiting Windsor by going back to the town for lunch.  There we found a sweet cafe tucked in at the end of a cobble stone street called the Clarence Brasserie.  With teapots in all the windows and china plates on the wall, it seemed like a great choice for a couple of ladies.  Being an Italian restaurant, we ordered a parmesan, bacon, and avocado salad to start and then some ravioli with bitter greens for our main course. After a couple of chilled glasses of Pinot Grigio, we finished up by having a plate of macarons which looked much nicer than my attempt to make then a couple months ago.  We tottered off to catch the train, but I would love to go back to Windsor again - there's still so much more we could have seen. 

Mummy with her fan and our delicious dessert!

Cafe where we had lunch. 

Did I mention it was hot?  Chelsea and I melted coming home as their air conditioned trains are a joke. We got back into London and couldn't wait to get into our air conditioned hotel room and have a cold shower.  Of course I packed sweaters, rain coat and plenty of slacks - but not too many shorts and sandals.  Tomorrow is going to be hotter at 28 degrees and we're going to the Globe Theatre to see Shakespeare's Midsummers Night Dream.