Final Day - Windsor Castle

 Friday 2/21/2025 

The week has flown by and we are on the last day of the tour.  While it was a super quick week, I think the tour packed in a bunch of stuff and then with the 3 plays and touring around on my first day, I actually did a lot in my one week in London.   I did learn something about tours though.  When you are out on the road in different towns, you get some rest time when on the bus.  There is not as much rest time when you stay in one town, so I wore myself out the first few days and learned how to pace myself after that.  

For our final day, we took a train outside the city to the town of Windsor to see Windsor Castle.  It was a massive Castle/Palace.  I believe our guide says it sits on 13 acres, and at 955 years old - built in 1070 - it is the longest occupied castle in the world.  Any pictures of the inside that I post were taken from their website.  We couldn’t take pictures inside.  Here are some outside pictures, the round tower in the 2nd picture is the oldest part of the castle  

We had a guided audio tour through some of the castle.  We couldn’t take pictures, but we saw some of the areas that are still in use today.  Then we saw another was showing how Charles II and his wife Queen Catherine of Braganza lived.  We saw their waiting rooms, bedrooms and dining rooms.  One very wonderful part was that we saw a miniature doll house that George V had made for his wife Queen Mary.  It  was done by master craftsman and depicted the building as is was in the day.  It had working electric lights as well as a working lift and was done in 1 to 1/2 scale.  Some people skipped right past this since there was a line for it, but they really missed out on a work of art. 

We also saw their redone rooms after the fire in 1999? And some descriptions on how the local people and workers of the castle saved works of art, carpets and furniture.   

After the tour through the castle we toured through St George’s Chapel. This is where Harry and Megan got married.   It is also where 11 monarchs are buried and among those are Henry VIII, Charles 1, Queen Elizabeth II (I cried) and George VI.  There were also many family members such as the queens sister Margaret, her husband Phillip and her parents.   It was a beautiful resting place off to the side.  In contrast, Henry VIII was right in the middle of the walkway and everyone walked  on top of his stone marking his tomb.  This is a working church and has had daily worship for 650 years.  Again, sorry, no inside pictures.  

After the church, I wondered around Windsor for a bit, shopped in some cute shops, bought a pair of gloves in the Scottish shop (I lost one of mine on this trip), had a Perroni NA beer (which I have found out I really like, I hope it tastes the same in the US) at a pub called Prince Harry’s, then hopped on the train to go back to London with the rest of the group.

This place made me laugh. It was called the shambles and was a wine shop.  It was so lopsided, there is no way I would have walked into it. 

I liked this final spooky looking shot of the castle as we walked away.  It is everything that is up on the hill from left to right.  The house in front is just in the town. 

 Our tour guide Lisa bought us a London tea towel to remember the trip and bought us a good dinner at a Turkish restaurant.   She is the same guide I had for southern England and hopefully we will cross paths on a tour in the future. 

And that is that!  A quick one week trip to London, hopefully I will be back one day to see some of the other sights.  I really enjoy traveling with Rick Steve’s, there are always great people and a lot of free time mixed with a good immersion into the local area and history!  TTFN !