Tubed (after a relaxed morning) from Farringdon station

to Paddington station to take the train to Windsor.

The trip by train takes a 16 minute train to Slough, change trains, then a 6 minute train ride. We left the flat shortly after 10 am then got to Windsor just before noon. The place was fairly full of tourists. We took a wander towards the river.

We had lunch, then met our docent for a tour of Windsor Castle.

Taking a tour meant we already had tickets, thank goodness.

We got a lot of British royalty history as this location has had a structure since the time of William the Conqueror. It originally was built as a fortress, which by the definition of our guide in Wales, Alwyn, was necessary to qualify as a castle. If it never had a military purpose, he called it a pseudo castle.

There was, of course, a lot of interest in the St George Chapel where Harry and Meagan were married. What I found interesting was the good English Gothic architecture, but no photos were allowed inside.

Same with the State Apartments, which had some interesting paintings including some Cranach, Breughel, Rubens and a lot from Van Dyke. The paintings by Rembrandt were not on display. Her Majesty apparently has so many great paintings, she can’t show them all. There were also a lot of not so great paintings, Victorian age decor and objects which I didn’t find particularly interesting.

A view across to Eton College.

The private apartments of the Queen.

Scott’s knees weren’t up for walking the 50,000 acres of park outside the castle. The visit was interesting but I would not plan to return.

Our journey back took almost two hours including a stop at WH Smith for Scott to find another book and some candy, and a taxi from Paddington during rush hour. Dinner was near the flat at Luca, a British Italian restaurant. The food was pretty good.