Arrived early in Windsor. Outside the Windsor castle is King George V memorial. A short uphill walk around the castle brought me to the entrance gate. Even in winter, there were loads of visitor. Tour groups from France, Japanese, Chinese etc. There was already a queue outside before the opening time at 945am. Buying the admission ticket just took less than 10minutes though as the group tours enter from a different door.
The audio guide is included into the GBP 16 fee and it is really informative and easy to follow. Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world and the Official Residence of Her Majesty The Queen. Its rich history spans almost 1000 years. It took me 3 hours plus to finish the tour but I missed the exhibition in the Drawing Gallery and Winchester Tower. I also forgot to get my ticket stamped to enable me to get free annual pass :(
The Round Tower, Windsor Castle
St George's Chapel
The State Apartment
Past the entrance, there is St George's Gate with State Apartments beyond it. Then while walking towards the Round Tower, one would pass by the battlement wall with small windows to shoot arrows. The Round Tower was used as fortress during war and is surrounded by a moat. Now the moat is a beautiful garden with small waterfall. Next is St. George's Chapel. St George is the patron saint for the order of Knights of Garter. The chapel has very impressive Gaelic architecture. The buttresses on the outside were built to support the high ceiling and arches inside the chapel. The chapel is the burial place of 10 England monarchs including King George VI ( Queen's father ), Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother), King Henry VIII and Princess Margaret. One of the most beautiful marble carving is the one of Princess Charlotte's tomb. She passed away at age 21 from childbirth and the carving depicted her covered corpse and shrouded figures mourning at her deathbed. The carvings above it shows her ascending to heaven with angel holding her stillborn baby. The ceilings are magnificent and there many half body angels with wings holding musical scroll decorating the arches. At the altar, there is a special window built for Catherine, King Henry VIII's wife to view the service from above. The altar is decorated with gold- coloured carvings and paintings. At the choir, there are flags of all order of knights being hung above.
The next visit is to Queen Mary's Doll House. The doll house, completed in 1924 is a childhood dream comes alive. It was built for Queen Mary, King George V's wife with great detail and fine craftsmanship. The House has electricity, fully plumbed with flushable toilet and even has a mini vacuum cleaner. There is real wine in wine bottle in the wine cellar and the rooms have mini paintings on the wall. One can see the Queen's bedroom, bathroom, study, wardrobe, King's bedroom and bathroom, dining room, kitchen with china, cutlery and working coffee mill, maid's room, man's room, strong room for crown jewel and silvers. The 2 famous dolls France and Marianne, belong to Princess Elizabeth ( now The Queen) and Princess Margaret are also at display with clothes, bags and shoes made by famous Parisian designer. Yup, jewellery by Cartier too. The dolls were gifts to the princesses during 1934 State Visit to Paris by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother).
The State Apartment has many lavishly decorated rooms with wonderful paintings. The rooms were created for Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in1675-1678. St George's Hall is one massive hall where there is long table laid for 160 guests during State Banquet and it also holds service for the Order of Garter in June yearly. Other rooms are Waterloo Chamber, King's Drawing Room, King's Bedchamber, King's Dressing Room with Breughel's Massacre of Innocents painting, King's Dining Room, Queen's Drawing Room, Queen's Ballroom with famous drawing of King Charles I (beheaded)'s five children, Garter Throne room and The Lantern Lobby which houses silver collection and suit of armour belongs to King Henry VIII. The fire in 1992 is believed to start in the Lantern Lobby.
Beyond this is the Semi-State Rooms which were badly damaged during the fire. It was originally built for King George IV and designed to suit his taste. Now, it is fully refurbished and repaired.
Sadly, no photography is permitted inside the cathedral, the Queen Mary's Doll House, the State Apartments and Semi state rooms. I wished I did not have to rush but since I have bought Legoland ticket online, I really need to move on as during winter, places close as early as 4pm.
Boarded a Legoland shuttle in front of the Theatre Royal. Again, is not cheap. A return bus ride which is just 15min one way cost GBP4.40. Legoland has quite a huge crowd. I can only imagine the crowd would have double or tripled during summer. The only reason I wanted to visit this place is for its Miniland. It does not disappoint. The Lego miniatures cover famous buildings and sites in London, Brighton, Scotland, France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, USA etc. Thank God it did not rain that day. The rides are quite kiddy and to line up for the ride it takes 15-30min which is quite a pain. To beat the queue, one has to buy Q-Bot which is not cheap but worthwhile if you bring your kids along. For the adults, any rides that are close to exciting are located in the Land of Vikings, Knights Kingdom and Pirates Landing. In the Kingdom of Pharoahs, I tried Laser Raider which is really a stupid choice. I lined up for 30min or more and I had no time for Viking rides at the end. But then, there was ot much time to begin with after I finished with Miniland. For those that pay GBP35 admission fee, a day in Legoland is a must to make full use of its value. But since I paid GBP15 via online purchase, I did not feel the pinch too much. On certain days, there is firework too but not yesterday. This weekend is the last opening before it closes during winter hence the discounted ticket.
Waited for shuttle bus outside the Legoland entrance to get back to town. In town, spotted Kitchen Fudge shop and bought strawberry fudge. Then, bought 2 more packets of fudge in Mr. Simms shop in Windsor shopping center. Finished 1 packet of fudge yesterday (was my dinner) and the rest of the fudge today (breakfast and lunch). Really hope I do not become diabetic. Really consumed too much sweet stuff lately.
Spent the whole day watching Hana Yori Dango Returns(Japanese version) with Italian subtitle while blogging about Canterbury and Windsor trips. It is really stupid but I could not find the ones with English subtitles. It did not matter much since I do know the storyline anyway...
Time to cook...tomyam fish and kailan for tonight. Needing a spicy and salty dish to offset the sugar overconsumption in the day :)
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