Windsor Castle

Today I went to Windsor Castle. It was a great time. I went with 2 girls from GVSU, 1 from CMU, 1 from Montana State but from Kalamazoo and 1 from California. It look about 2 hours to get to and from the castle from Surbiton. We spent about 2 and half hours at the castle this afternoon. We got to tour the state apartments which are open during the summer. It was very pretty, everything was gold. The coolest parts of the castle were the parts we couldn't take pictures of. Queen Mary's doll house was so cool. It was in its own room. The plates in the dining room of the doll house were solid silver. It was made in the 1920's and had plumbing and electricity. There were about 4 model cars. There were even linens folded in the "linen room" of the doll house. There were two dolls that she also had very expensive looking clothing for. Oh and the doll house had miniature REAL crown jewels in it. What a life these people lived. There was gold and crystal in all of the state apartment rooms and so many paintings. The great kitchens were closed during our visit, which was something I hear is every impressive to see. So I guess I will just have to come back to England for a third time.

There was an entire room in the state apartments devoted to china. It was all so beautiful. There were so many beautiful colors and patterns. There was a gift shop specializing in just china and they had a beautiful blue colored china. I really wanted a cup and saucer but it was 35 GBP, which isn't exactly a college price. I didn't even want to ask how much the full tea service was... I can only imagine.

After the castle we were all so hungry. We forgot to eat lunch. So we ate along the road from the train station to the castle. The restaurant was called Bella Italia. The food was great. I had Cannelloni with spinach and ricotta cheese. I also tried some of the pizza there and it was so good. We had a great time trying to divide up the bill (We were all put on one) and when counting up the money someone counted the two pound coins as one. We all got a little confused. Why can't everything be bills.

I love the travel pass that the school provided with my fees. It makes the traveling around to sites seem so much easier and cheaper. Oh! I had my first experience having to pay for the "loo" at Waterloo station today! It was 30 pence and you needed exact change to get in. So there I am the American tourist standing digging through my purse trying to exact change. I pull out a 20 pence coin and then what I think is a 10 pence since it looks like a dime. Nope, I was wrong because the dime like coin keeps coming back in the return. Thats because it was only 5 pence and the coins that look like 25 cents are the 10 pence. Hopefully I get the coin thing down by the end of the week. I also don't know how English men and women walk around with so much change in there pockets/purse. I can already tell it adds about 5 lbs to my shoulder bag :)

One last final look from the inside of Windsor Castle

This is the exit from Windsor Castle

The entrance to St. George Chapel with 3 of the girls from my program. They are all very nice and all but one is from michigan how funny is that.

St. George Chapel from the outside. The inside was beautiful and had all these ornate wood carvings and a lot of royals are buried there. It also had amazing stain glass windows and it was all stone within the chapel. I bought some postcards from windsor to scrapbook with and a christmas tree ornament. It is a green crown with Windsor Castle stitched on it. I think I am going to try to buy ornaments were ever I go. My grandma did this when she and my grandpa were in Europe and I think it is such a great idea.

Picture within the courtyards of Windsor Castle. We took the audio tour at the castle but the information was really long so we skipped some of it and just walked though the rooms.

The first look at Windsor Castle the actual residence of the Queen of England.

The train to Windsor from Waterloo. It took us about an hour and half from Waterloo. IT