On Sunday, December 30, 2012, we had an excursion planned for us to tour Windsor Castle. We boarded the bus at 8:30 and were on our way. It was a cold and rainy with occasional sunshine day. We arrived in the town of Windsor around 10 and our entrance to the castle grounds wasn't until 11:10. John and I went down to where we could get pictures of the entrance to the castle from the start of the Long Walk. This is a straight walk over rolling hills to another residence (I think it's where the Queen Mother had her apartments when she stayed at Windsor.) We didn't take the walk because it would have taken me over two hours (and John at least an hour and a half) there and back and we had to be back near the tour entrance in less than an hour. On the way down I got a picture of "The Crooked House" (yes, it was crooked) and the columns on the building housing the town museum That building is quite old and after the London Fire (no, it wasn't affected by the fire) the town leaders asked Christopher Wren if the building was safe with open area under the second story. He looked at the building and determined it was well built and didn't need any other support. Well, the town leaders didn't really believe him so they insisted that he install columns underneath the second floor. So he had it done (I don't remember if it was six or twelve columns he had installed.) But, each column is one inch short of reaching the ceiling; they aren't supporting anything. Apparently the town leaders never noticed but it's obvious if one looks at them. I got a picture of that as well.
We returned to our meeting spot in drizzling rain. There was a line at least two blocks long for groups waiting their turn to go in so our guide said to come back at noon. The lines would be gone and we could get in without having to stand out in the rain.
I was beginning to get hungry so we went across the street to Maud's Cafe. This was a small business with room for about a dozen people to wait in line for their snacks and drinks. We ordered hot chocolate and a turnover of some sort (that I can't remember what it was because they were out and so had a chocolate muffin.) We could have gone upstairs to more seating but there were two places at the counter in front of a window looking out on the street. The hot chocolate was amazing. It was extremely rich and satisfying for two reasons one of which was the fact that we'd had them put whipped cream on the top. I'd never had hot chocolate with whipped cream; it felt so decadent. John also said it probably tasted good because we were cold. No doubt; but the decadence is what I remember the most.
After finishing our snack, we went next door to a souvenir shop where I picked up a few postcards of pictures of the castle that I wouldn't be able to take myself. Then we went back across the street to wait for our guide again - but we sat in the bus stop shelter. By the time our guide arrived it was no longer raining and there was no line.
When we entered the grounds we picked up our audio equipment to use while in the castle proper. Then we stopped and were told to meet back where we were (point-of-interest #5) at 1:30 to check in. We had to be back at the bus to return to London by 3:30. We entered the castle proper and were confronted by stairs. Lots of stairs. My legs were still sore from doing Madame Tussaud's the day before so I grabbed hold of a handrail and drug myself up the stairs. We followed the audio tour most of the way around but not all the way because it was getting to be time to check in. There were a couple of people who were missing but we were told to go on into town to shop, eat lunch, and meet by "the train" at 3.
John and I found a place to buy something to eat and went out under a covered open-air area and found a place to sit, not at the store where we bought the food. I think I had a loaded baked potato and John had a sandwich of some sort. Then we went into the shopping area where I found out that our "fast food" place was actually part of a bigger mall.
Of course by then I needed to find a bathroom. I did fairly easily but was confronted, again, with stairs. I had to go down the stairs to get to the facility (that seems to be the case over much of where we traveled) and found a line for the ladies at the bottom. Fortunately the line moved fairly quickly. Then it was climb all those stairs back up. Ugh!
There was a Bare Minerals store in the mall that I'd seen when we came in in the morning that was right across from "the train." I went inside. It was kind of busy so I didn't get much help but I only wanted to get something to try out - my wrinkles are getting very noticeable to me.
"The train" is the Engine of Queen Victoria's personal transportation to and from Windsor. It's on permanent display at the front of the mall. I got a picture of it and of a modern train on the tracks about twenty feet to the right of Queen Victoria's train for comparison.
At 3 we all met by "the train" and again we had one or two people missing (but not the same ones, I don't believe.) We also had a stranger approach our Varsity leader (different from our tour guide) and give her a wallet that some girl had dropped. We later learned it was one of the cheerleaders but she was staying at the Tower Hotel. Someone would later pick it up for her. That girl was very lucky. The day before (our first "free" day) another cheerleader, on a tour of Paris, had had her passport stolen. I never heard back on what happened with her but Varsity Tours had required pictures of our passports when we signed up so I'm sure they were able to get the girl back with the group.
So then we went down to our bus. Now, when we arrived, I didn't want to go up stairs if I could avoid it so I had taken the elevator up the two levels to the entrance to the mall. But when we got to the stairs and entered the elevator, it wouldn't close the doors much less go down. So I had to do the stairs (open air so I could really get the sensation of height.) We all got on the bus (our missing two showed up) a little late. Then it was back to London.
The girls all had to practice for the parade. The parents and other supporters got to go to a Pub for a "real" English dinner. About an hour/hour and a half after we returned to the hotel we boarded buses again and drove to The Albert Pub. It is built on the site or may even be the original building expanded, that was Prince Albert's (Queen Victoria's consort) favorite pub. We were taken upstairs and seated at long tables. Now we'd been told that we could have Iced Tea or Ale to drink. I asked if it was possible to get Cider and that we'd pay for it if necessary. Our waiter checked and told us it would be free and I later found out that "Ale" includes beer, ales and ciders. So John and I both had cider. The interesting, and somewhat daunting, thing about getting Cider is they take a 16 ounce glass and fill it to the brim and serve it to you. You have to get it to your mouth without spilling any, somewhat of an issue at a very crowded table. But we managed without incident. Our meal was a soup (tomato brought to the table) and a buffet (fowl, pig, and beef with Yorkshire Pudding and roasted vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions, maybe some turnips as well.)) Now from my reading about cooking, I know that Yorkshire Pudding is essentially individual, popped, popovers and the usual way to eat them is to pour beef gravy on them so that's what I did. After we'd gotten back to the table several people asked what they were and I explained it to them. Several of them had put what looked like cranberry sauce (though they, the other diners at our table, called it a sweet sauce of some sort) on theirs. I didn't have any of the desserts; I know they had an apple pie and a cheesecake but I was content with what I'd already eaten.
After we got back home in the States I wanted to try to recreate the hot chocolate we'd had in Windsor. This was good, but I want to try something else next time - using baking chocolate instead of semi-sweet chocolate.
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