I've been to the Castle twice before, both times in 2008 when I was in London for Study Abroad, but Derek and Henry had never been there. The castle and grounds are HUGE. Some of the photographs from the air really show how incredible it is, and even from the ground it is breathtaking.
When we arrived, we immediately found a cafe for lunch. We three girls were starving and starting to get cranky. It was a good thing we stopped! I thought Henry would wolf down his sandwich, but it turns out our Little Brute was far too exhausted--he was cranky the whole time, but the minute he got in his buggy and we walked away, he slumped down and went to sleep.
Because the Queen actually lives at the Castle throughout the year (usually weekends), you have to go through security to enter the grounds. We put our bags through the extra, pushed Henry through the body scanner thing (totally asleep in his buggy), and walked through ourselves with no incident. Whew! (Not that I was worried).
We had our audio guides, which were free and nice and informative. It was nice that Henry was asleep at first, because we got to enjoy listening to the guide for a while before we headed down to St. George's Chapel. Henry woke up just then--so a very short nap--and wanted to be held. Luckily, he was very good and quiet the whole time we were in the chapel. St. George's is the official chapel of the Knights in the Order of the Garter, and their crests are hanging in the choir. Henry VIII is buried there, along with George VI and the Queen Mother, along with a few other pretty important British Monarchs.
We three Brutons sat in the seats near the altar for a while, just enjoying the splendor and listening to the organ. I was again quite grateful for our mild and well mannered little boy--he sat right next to me and looked around, while examining my audio gadget. We are so lucky to have this boy!
Oh! And just before we went in to the Chapel, Henry met his first official Guard! So fun!
Anyway, after the chapel, we went in to the Castle to see the State Rooms and Queen Mary's Doll collection. (No photography inside, which is unfortunate, because Henry was so cute discovering the castle!)
Queen Mary's Doll collection and Doll House are AMAZING. Seriously! The Doll House is the size of our living room, not even kidding, with every little gadget and do-dad imaginable. I LOVE it. Henry really enjoyed looking at that as well--he pointed at all the different rooms and chatted about the dolls. The house has a little library, with miniature books, all of which have actual stories in them! If you pulled one from the shelf, you could read the story. That was my favorite room. (Daly did sneak a pic of this! and Derek snuck a few seconds of video--before I told him no photography. :D )
After the doll house, we made our way into the actual Castle to see the state rooms. Buggies are not allowed in the castle (stairs, etc.), so we turned ours in and got a pretty sweet hip seat for Henry to use. It went around my waist and had a little seat on it that he loved sitting on--for a while. :) Once we were in the Castle, he wanted to run around and explore--everything! Daddy chased him around for most of that, keeping him away from the roped off areas.
When we went in to the Ballroom, Henry was on Daddy's shoulders and oh--he was so excited about the three crystal chandeliers on the ceiling! He used the audio guide to point up at them and said "oh, wow!" a few times. It was so cute. He didn't really want to leave that room!
The other room he was pretty excited about, was St. George's Hall, where Royal Banquets occur. All over the ceiling, are the crests of the Knights in the Order of the Garter. If one of them commits a crime, or does something against the order, his shield remains on the ceiling, but it is whited out. Each shield is numbered, so you could actually inquire as to whose shields were whited out. How embarrassing!
Once we left the castle, we snapped a few more photos, bought some postcards, and then headed to the Long Walk. The Long Walk is part of Windsor Park, and was created in the 1680s by Charles II. It is over 2/5 miles, and stretches from Windsor Castle to The Copper Horse, which is near the Royal Ascot. It is double lined with beautiful Horse Chestnut. We took some snacks and sat down beneath one of the trees for a while to take a break. Henry ran around while we had water and snacks, before we decided to take a few photos and then be on our way.
Our last stop in Windsor was McDonald's, where Henry was delighted to consume a Chicken Nugget Happy Meal and get a new How to Train your Dragon toy.
The train ride home felt much shorter than the way in--probably because it was! We didn't have to take a commuter train, which stops at every station on the way, so it cut nearly 20 minutes off our journey.
We had a wonderful time with our friends! I am sure going to miss having them around, and I know Henry will miss them, too.
**Some of these photos were taken by Daly. Thanks Daly!!!
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