From 2800 B.C. to the 21st Century—England, May, 2012

Part 5:  A Day in Windsor & Driving Off to Explore More of England

Friday dawned, and we were pleased to see the sun shining and most of the sky a lovely blue; however, we did notice some dark clouds off in the distance and the branches on the sycamore tree outside our window were swaying in the breeze.  After a quick call to Ami and Ken, we met them downstairs, got transportation directions to Windsor from the desk clerk, and started walking in the direction of our Bayswater Underground Station, about five minutes away.
We knew there were several restaurants along the way, and we stopped at one and had a traditional English breakfast with juice, fried eggs, English bacon (tastes different from bacon in the U.S.), baked beans, toast, tea and their ever-popular grilled tomato.  Often their breakfasts start with cereal or porridge, but we skipped that.
We boarded the Tube and began the first leg of our journey.  Not many minutes later, we transferred to a train, which delivered us to Windsor, a town of about 30,000 people that sits on the River Thames, 23 miles from London.  There are two train stations here, and we arrived at the Windsor & Eton Riverside Station, and saw the castle as we exited.  Then we just followed the wall to the castle entrance.  We looked up to see which flag was showing and saw that the royal standard, rather than the Union Jack, was waving in the breeze, which meant the queen was in residence there that day.  How exciting!
Dating from 1080, this was William the Conqueror’s first castle in England, and it has been expanded by later monarchs.  Ami and Ken had planned to take the tour with us that day, because they wanted to see the state apartments, which have been restored after a fire in 1992, but we learned at the entrance that the queen was entertaining that day, and that the state apartments wouldn’t be open for visitors; so, they decided to window shop in town, while we toured the castle.
The tour begins in a modern building that houses an introductory historical overview of the castle, which was very informative.  From there visitors use an audioguide, which is included in the ticket price.  The audioguide was quite good, and when we had questions we wanted to ask, we just spoke to one of the many, helpful docents who are scattered throughout the castle and grounds.
We followed the signs to Queen Mary’s Dollhouse, which is a miniature palace, complete with electric lighting, hot & cold running water, and even flushing lavatories.  Completed in 1924, it took three years to build, involved 1,500 craftsmen, artists, and authors, and is considered the most famous dollhouse in the world.  It is built on a scale of 1:12 (one inch to one foot), and is amazing for its detail, including miniature toilet tissue rolls in the bathrooms.
Next we viewed the special exhibition done for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, “The Queen: 60 Photographs for 60 Years.”  It presents a portrait of The Queen’s reign, as captured by leading press photographers, on both official occasions and at relaxed family gatherings, including horseback riding with her grandchildren with the Queen wearing a headscarf, rather than one of her lovely hats.
Upon leaving there, signs direct you downhill to 15th century St. George’s Chapel, that houses the tombs of ten monarchs, including Henry VIII, Charles I, and the current queen’s parents (King George VI and Queen Mother Elizabeth), as well as the Queen’s younger sister, Margaret.  It is a regal chapel, and the audioguide here was very complete and informative as you walk from numbered sight to numbered sight.
It was interesting to me to learn about the Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry in that nation, and dedicated to the image and arms of St. George, England’s patron saint.  It was founded by King Edward III in the 1340’s, and appointments to the Order can be made only by the ruling sovereign and are always announced on April 23, St. George’s Day.  Current membership includes the Queen, Prince of Wales (her husband) and 24 others.  Former, recent well-known members of the Order include Sir Winston Churchill and General Montgomery.
We spent between an hour and an hour and a half touring the castle, the chapel, and the grounds, and we listened to most of the over 30 audioguide sights, and very much recommend a visit here to anyone visiting London, as its an easy day-trip from there.  Ami and Ken had estimated what time we’d be leaving the castle grounds, and the four of us then went off in search of a pub.
(Actually Ken had located a nice one, while we were taking the tour.)  At The Duchess of Cambridge we had a mini-lunch and a drink. The creamy bitter (British beer) served here was one of Dave’s favorites, and he tried new brews wherever we went. The waiter had neglected to bring the order of chips (french fries) along with our sandwich, and when that was brought to his attention, he said, “So sorry.  I’ll pop right back with it.”  I loved hearing the different British phrases throughout our trip.
We had a bit of a wait, once we got back to the train station; so, we took a short walk over the bridge to Eton and enjoyed the local scenery, but didn’t go as far as the famous school.  (Those dark clouds we noticed off in the distance when we started the day, stayed away, and we had blue skies the entire day.)  We “minded the gap” and boarded our train back to the underground station for our return to London.  I loved hearing the various stops announced along the way, Dachett, Sunnymeade, Wraysly, Feltham, Twickenham, Kingston, Vauxhall, Gunnersbury, Chiswick Park, Putney Bridge, and Brambley-by-Bow, among others.
Once exiting at our Bayswater tube station, we headed for an Italian restaurant, and enjoyed our last meal together, since Ami and Ken were flying to Madrid on Saturday for a tour of Spain, and we were picking up a rental car to explore more of England.  We said our good-byes in the hotel lobby that evening, but, with no wake-up call service in the hotel, we did call their room the next morning to make sure they’d awakened and left the hotel at a very early hour.  No answer, “Good.  They must have gotten out on schedule.”
Then we had toast and tea, finished packing, and started walking to our tube station pulling our luggage along.  When we arrived at the station, we learned that our Oystercards were out of money; so, we decided rather than add money to our cards on our way out of town, to just take a cab to nearby Paddington station, where we would then take the Heathrow Express to the airport to pickup our rental car.  But the cabby offered us a very good deal, compared to the Express price, and drove us to the airport to get our rental car.
He was very chatty and entertaining—talked about the dual carriageways (4-lane highways), about the lorries (trucks), and a bit about international issues.  (He’s a bit worried about “… that chap in Syria …”)  Despite the fact that two different people had suggested taking trains to explore England, rather than getting a rental car, I knew from one of my guidebooks that we couldn’t get easily/efficiently to all the places I’d planned in four days without renting a car, and I knew that Dave was an excellent driver and that I was a good map reader/navigator; so, we were willing to risk it, since we’d had so much good luck with a rental car in Spain in 2005.
Soon we were leaving the Hertz Rental area, and Dave was driving, understandably somewhat uncomfortably, on the left side of the road, just like the English.  Oh, my—would he remember to do that every driving minute of our next four days?

Patti Day-Miller