Windsor Castle

Since my friend only took one week off from work, we had to plan around his US work hours during the second week of his visit. Thus, on Monday, I made sure that our excursion to Windsor would not bring us home any later than five o’clock in the afternoon. The itineraries for subsequent days were even more tight.

We entered Windsor Castle at 11 o’clock sharp. Following the main tourist route, we walked along the stone walls to Saint George’s Chapel, perhaps the most ornate of the churches we had seen so far. Everything from the ceiling to the tombs was chiselled to the finest of details, and the major row of stained-glass windows had another row of stained-glass windows on top. Unfortunately, no photography is permitted in any of the indoor spaces, which means that all the photos here are of the castle’s exterior.   

As we continued to Queen Mary’s Doll’s House and the State Apartments, we could see the chapel of Eton College from the ramparts. I had originally planned to visit the college, but I changed my mind when I realised this would entail two grown men walking around a school taking pictures. The State Apartments were perhaps the most luxurious living quarters I have ever seen, even more impressive than the rooms at Potsdam and Charlottenburg. Lining their walls were a number of famous paintings, and the pastel-coloured ceilings became brighter towards the skylight, creating the impression that the rooms extended all the way to the sun.

We ate lunch while soaking in the light outside a nearby Italian restaurant, after which we walked down the Long Walk to see the castle from farther away. In the distance, we could make out the Statue of King George III, but we had the foresight to check how long it would take for us to get there before becoming too attached to it as our destination: the whole round trip would have required at least an hour and a half of walking. Instead of embarking on this mad journey, we walked back through the city and arrived in Oxford at a sensible hour.      

The courtyard of Saint Antony's
The eastern walls of Windsor Castle
The southeastern end of Windsor Castle
The Round Tower at Windsor Castle
The same
The same from slightly farther away
Buildings along the path to the castle courtyard
Details on the wall of Saint George's Chapel at Windsor Castle
Saint George's Chapel
The same
The view of Windsor Castle to the right of Saint George's Chapel
The Horseshoe Cloister in front of Saint George's Chapel
The western entrance to Saint George's
Another view of both Saint George's and Windsor Castle
Eton College Chapel
A view into the Upper Ward
The Norman Gateway
Round Tower with the Norman Gateway to the left
More of the same
Windsor Castle as seen from Long Walk
The same
A statue of Queen Elizabeth II with her corgis
One of the corgis
More of the same
The Crooked House of Windsor
Queen Victoria Statue
Windsor Castle as seen from Windsor and Eton Central

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