First trip outside London, so I was pretty excited. However, this tour group that I booked with was pretty crazy coz it's a big company and they have like 6 different tours or so running each day, so at the meeting point at the Victoria coach station, it was just crammed with tourists with bewildered as me, hoping that at some point in time, we'll get onto the correct bus. I blame the big boss... I had originally ventured over to the correct bus, but when I tried to double confirm it with the big boss he sent me over to the wrong bus which ended up in my wasting 15 mins queuing and my correct tour guide tearing her brains out trying to look for me in the bus station. BLEAH... Anyway, all ended well and I found myself on the correct bus... but I was grumbling my frustration when I finally got on.... So first stop was onto Windsor castle, the Queen's weekend home.
Windsor village...
We made quite good time to Windsor castle. We were like the first group in, so we didn't have to wait very long to get in. Our guide was very dilligent in telling us to move fast... haha
King Henry VIII gate
Henry VIII crest
Waiting outside the gates for the castle to open.... First glimpse of Windsor grounds..
Once inside, I was snapping pictures like crazy because the whole place is MASSIVE....
The apartments behind the gate is where the Queen stays when she's in residence. She even has her own private road when she reaches Windsor which takes her to the front of the gates (Note the black door by the side, that's the entrance/exit to her private road)
Real life palace guards... There was one time when they were marching my way and by then there were a lot of tourists on the castle grounds and they were just snapping pictures like crazy and no one was moving to make way for the guards... so it was inevitable that the guards starting barking orders to stand aside or just be rammed into basically... BUT, there was this really stupid tourist. I really want to laugh out loud everytime I think about her. She not only ignored the command and instead turned around with her back facing the guards to try and take a cam whore shot with her and the guards together... when she turned back again, she literally found herself spinning back into her friends... like WTF...
St Geroge's Chapel, this is where the Queen's mother was buried here in 2002 beside her husband. Other famous kings that are buried here include Henry VIII and his third wife. Having been to Westminster abbey, I asked the guide about how it was decided which abbey to bury the Royal Family in, and that was when she told me that Westminster Abbey was supposedly full... Looking back, I guess it's quite true...The design for St George's chapel is modelled after Eton (which ironically was started as a charity school but today is one of the most elite schools in England)
Picture of King Henry VIII tomb.
Just a quick note, in Windsor castle, we got to see the State apartments of the Queen, where important visitors are often entertained when they come to visit the Queen, but I think the true highlight is St George's chapel, which is definitely worth seeing even if you have limited time in the area. Inside the state apartments however, you can see a memorial in a room remembering the 1992 fire that destroyed most of the castle and that prompted the Queen to open Buckingham palace to the public to help pay for the restorations which costs over approx 36 million pounds altogether.
Other funny stories of Windsor castle include when Prince William had his 21st B'day party here, and security thought that no one would really dare climb up the hill to Windsor castle, but one guy in heels and a pink dress actually did and even managed to upstage Prince William when he was on stage for his speech. (He ran up to the stage, grabbed the microphone from Prince William and announced that he was Osama).
Aerial view of Windsor castle... lets you actually see how massive it is...
Windsor town hall when Prince Charles wed Camilla, and also where Elton John wed his long time partner
Driving past the Queen's private race track.
Windsor village...
We made quite good time to Windsor castle. We were like the first group in, so we didn't have to wait very long to get in. Our guide was very dilligent in telling us to move fast... haha
King Henry VIII gate
Henry VIII crest
Waiting outside the gates for the castle to open.... First glimpse of Windsor grounds..
Once inside, I was snapping pictures like crazy because the whole place is MASSIVE....
The apartments behind the gate is where the Queen stays when she's in residence. She even has her own private road when she reaches Windsor which takes her to the front of the gates (Note the black door by the side, that's the entrance/exit to her private road)
Real life palace guards... There was one time when they were marching my way and by then there were a lot of tourists on the castle grounds and they were just snapping pictures like crazy and no one was moving to make way for the guards... so it was inevitable that the guards starting barking orders to stand aside or just be rammed into basically... BUT, there was this really stupid tourist. I really want to laugh out loud everytime I think about her. She not only ignored the command and instead turned around with her back facing the guards to try and take a cam whore shot with her and the guards together... when she turned back again, she literally found herself spinning back into her friends... like WTF...
St Geroge's Chapel, this is where the Queen's mother was buried here in 2002 beside her husband. Other famous kings that are buried here include Henry VIII and his third wife. Having been to Westminster abbey, I asked the guide about how it was decided which abbey to bury the Royal Family in, and that was when she told me that Westminster Abbey was supposedly full... Looking back, I guess it's quite true...The design for St George's chapel is modelled after Eton (which ironically was started as a charity school but today is one of the most elite schools in England)
Picture of King Henry VIII tomb.
Just a quick note, in Windsor castle, we got to see the State apartments of the Queen, where important visitors are often entertained when they come to visit the Queen, but I think the true highlight is St George's chapel, which is definitely worth seeing even if you have limited time in the area. Inside the state apartments however, you can see a memorial in a room remembering the 1992 fire that destroyed most of the castle and that prompted the Queen to open Buckingham palace to the public to help pay for the restorations which costs over approx 36 million pounds altogether.
Other funny stories of Windsor castle include when Prince William had his 21st B'day party here, and security thought that no one would really dare climb up the hill to Windsor castle, but one guy in heels and a pink dress actually did and even managed to upstage Prince William when he was on stage for his speech. (He ran up to the stage, grabbed the microphone from Prince William and announced that he was Osama).
Aerial view of Windsor castle... lets you actually see how massive it is...
Windsor town hall when Prince Charles wed Camilla, and also where Elton John wed his long time partner
Driving past the Queen's private race track.
