Windsor

19 August

One of the things left on my "list of things to do before I leave" was to check out Windsor Castle so last Sunday I headed out to check out Windsor and Eton Central (and of course the castle) with Sara and Fede. We had a great day out and cant believe how cheap it was to get there (only £15 return from Paddington for all three of us!)

So Windsor is a pretty impressive castle, here's a little bit of background info... It's the largest inhabited castle in the world (approx floor area 45,000 metres square) and the oldest in continual occupation dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, and is now one of the principal official residences of the Queen. We had a great couple of hours wandering around the castle and (although very anti-social) we learnt a lot with the free audio guides. Unfortunately St George's Chapel was closed (I guess being a Sunday) but it was still really pretty from the outside. (second on the left below)

The gardens at the castle were also pretty amazing, although I guess the Queen does live here sometimes so they have to be up to a pretty high standard : ) While we were there we also checked out the Queens Doll House and the State Apartments. The first was amazing as it has an amazing collection of miniature items that actually work. It was created as a gift to Queen Mary from the people, and to serve as an historical document on how a royal family might live during the period in England designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1924

After the castle we wandered around the town of Windsor for a little bit (and grabbed Subway for lunch as they do £2 chicken teriyaki with sub-of-the-day on Sundays!) Walked across the bridge, past all the crazy swans and down the main street of Eton Central, everything was closed (as it was Sunday) but it was still a pretty nice area of town. All in all a great little day trip out of London, cheap (to get there, though the castle is about £15 to get into), close, interesting, would definitely recommend a visit