Noel's Adventure(s): February 11: Windsor Palace

This morning we met the bus and guide outside our door at 10am to drive to Windsor. The drive was pretty short, around 50 minutes. Driving down the smaller roads to get to Windsor was fun. We got to see the field of Runnymede where King John signed the Magna Carta in 1215. As a tribute to that event, the field is kept in its original uninhabited state. Oddly, the United States Bar Association is the group who erected a monument there, in honor of the ideas surrounding the Magna Carta. Glimpsing the castle for the first time was amazing. I had no idea what to expect, so it was exciting to see the stone castle on the top of a hill, surrounded by other buildings and walls and a large park with a path leading to the palace, lined by rows of trees. We drove through the pretty village, which is located right next to the castle, not far away at all, and up to the palace. The Union Jack flag was flying, so that meant that the Queen was not there. We walked past a statue of Queen Victoria wearing her little diamond crown, which was fun, since I had just seen it the day before in the Tower.

Our wonderful guide Britt took us around the outside area within the walls. I was amazed by the fantastic gardens, especially the ones at the base of the old tower, the center of the palace complex, which is up high on a hill. The gardens are planted right on the steep hill and where a moat would be if William the Conqueror had had any way to get the water up there. I could see lots and lots of blooming snowdrops, as well as some yellow and purple crocus and lots of bright yellow winter aconite and mutli-colored helleborus. I loved how the gardens had water features built into the hill. I wish I could come back in the summer to see all the bare-naked roses in bloom! Inside, the palace was breathtaking, of course. We were allowed to tour the State Apartments, where honored guests are housed and entertained. The rooms and furnishings are incredible, decked out in precious stones and metals and priceless artworks. We weren't allowed to take photographs, so I can't even begin to recall half of what I saw. Everything was gold and shining. There were lots of carved wood ornaments on walls. Specifically, I remember a dining hall designed by one of the kings with lavish tastes that had carvings of categorized food items hanging on the walls such as lobsters, clams, fish, and crabs, and quail, chicken, turkey and peacock, and venison and prime cuts of beef and lamb all surrounded by lots and lots of wooden fruit. The carvings had been done by some sort of master woodcarver, and you could tell! The ceiling of this particular room was painted with a scene of the Greek gods having a feast, with the King and Queen who had commissioned it front and center. The Queen, mimicking an ancient Greek Goddess, was draped in a toga-type garment that exposed half of her chest. The funniest part of my day was hearing a little British, uniformed school boy who was part of a field trip tell his teacher "Hey! She has her boob out!" and the embarrassed teacher explain "Yes, yes she does, but it's a classical painting so that's ok and anyway we don't talk about such things ever." Poor teacher!

I particularly liked the room that had all the personal coats of arms of each and every Knight of the Garter hanging from the ceiling. Seeing all those different badges was fun, and I wondered if maybe I'm related to any of them. It was also interesting seeing those shields that had been painted white: this was to signify a disgraced knight who had done something terrible and had been thrown out of the order, but the shield remained on display as a reminder of his misdeed. Throughout the building were constant reminders of the fire of 1992. I hadn't realized how bad it was, but it really did some serious damage. Most of the furnishings and all the paintings but one were saved, and the one that was lost was just too big to get out. After the fire, some rooms had to be entirely re-done, and most were just re-created the way they had previously been.

Walking out of the palace, I looked over my shoulder at the flag flying from the ramparts and noticed something different. It had changed from the Union Jack to the Queen's personal banner! That means that, while we walked inside Windsor Palace, Queen Elizabeth II had arrived through a back door! I was in the same castle as the Queen of England!

After seeing the palace, I went into St George's Chapel, where lots and lots of famous monarchs are buried. All over the church were reminders of its function as center of the Order of the Garter. Each knight gets a special seat at the front of the church, and their banner and helmet is hung above. On the back of the seats, each knight gets a brass plaque with his coat of arms, and these remain even after the knight dies, so there are lots and lots to look at.

This is going to sound kind of funny, but: there are famous dead people all over the church! The current Queen's parents and sister are buried in a sort of private room off to one side. Their modest area is in great contrast with other monuments around the area, particularly those of the pre-Victorian and Victorian era, where splendid, sentimental monuments were the norm. For example, one of the most moving monuments is for Princess Charlotte, who died at age 21 in childbirth in 1817. She was much loved by the country and would have been queen instead of Queen Victoria. Her monument shows her body, crumpled on a pedestal and covered in a cloth, surrounded by veiled mourners, with her beautiful soul draped in a clinging and revealing garment ascending to Heaven, flanked by angels carrying her stillborn baby. Everywhere you look in the chapel, you see dead monarchs and famous individuals.

The best part of my trip to Windsor, and perhaps even my trip to England in general, took place in the Quire of St. George's Chapel, when I, Noel Lawrence of Minocqua, Wisconsin, walked on King Henry VIII. He's buried at the front of the church, in the floor, so I sort of "accidentally on purpose" stepped on him. Oops. I can't say I'm sorry though. I trod on Henry the Wife-Slayer!

After visiting the chapel, we decided to eat lunch. My friend Amanda and I had both brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so we wandered over towards the big park we had seen from the road to eat our lunch. As we munched on our pb&js and ambled along the long path, I heard a familiar sound and looked into the trees on either side of the long path. Sure enough, there were several Indian Ringneck parrots squawking at each other just above my head. I find parrots everywhere I go here!

After our walking lunch, we met up with a few friends and roamed the town. The little town is smushed right up against the walls of the palace. It's a very nice town, with some touristy type stuff near the palace, but the farther away from the castle, the more normal it seems. We ended up walking all over the town, because we had time to kill. We stumbled on an amazing little ice cream shop, and we just couldn't walk away. I had Bailey's-flavored ice cream, and wow was it amazing. Soooo good!

Eventually, we met our guide by the Queen Victoria statue and walked over to Eton, which is just nearby. To get there, we had to cross a little bridge that my friends and I had explored before, where there are literally dozens of swans trolling for a handout. When we got nearer to Eton, it was easy to tell because some of the young men walking past were wearing formal black coattails and Edwardian collars. They still have to dress up for class. We couldn't go in any of the buildings because school was in session, but it was fun to see. The tour guide said that to send a son here costs about $60,000 a year (I think it was dollars, not pounds, but I'm not positive), and most attend from age 13 to age 18. Um, wow. But, on the flip-side, going to Eton pretty much guarantees you a place in whatever University you want to go to.

On the way back, our wonderful guide informed us that she had brought a big bag of bread to feed the swans!!! I was in heaven. The birds would take it right out of my hand, and I only got bit once, and that was an accident. There were SO many swans! Lots of my classmates, especially the girls but some of the boys as well, were freaking out over the "icky scary birds" which was pretty darn funny to watch. I loved every minute of it. After feeding the swans, it was time to go home and eat dinner and fall into bed. My legs are sore from all that walking!