Day 3 - Saturday, May 15

We were up early, due to some combination of jet lag, adrenaline, or the early May sunrise at this latitude.  In the dining room we had our first "full English breakfast" which always consisted of a cereal, milk, juice, rolls, toast, jam, butter, a fried egg, sausage, bacon, and a grilled tomato with a choice of coffee or tea.  In addition, you might get some combination of baked beans, fried mushrooms, a potato scone, fresh fruit, or yogurt.  Breakfasts were constantly good, although I wasn't too fond of the British breakfast sausage - it has a very odd texture and taste.  Some places offered alternate breakfasts, but we usually went with the traditional option.

After breakfast I sent out a quick e-mail message to let the folks at home know we were OK.  The staff at the Euro Hotel lets you have free use of e-mail facility, which was great.  We also received an e-mail from home, which we found pinned to the board in the lobby.  On the way to the tube station, we walked by the home where W. B. Yeats used to live (Susan is a big fan).  Plaques on the walls mark homes in Britain which housed famous residents.  We rode the tube from Euston Square to Paddingdon.  Interestingly, I had seen a documentary on the history of subways just before leaving home and recalled that this line was the world's first underground urban transit system (there's history everywhere in London).

At Paddington we bought cheap day return tickets to Windsor Central Station.  At the ticket office, there were hundreds of people in the queue at the "Tickets for Travel Today" windows, even though there were several "Advance Ticket Sales" windows with no business at all.  Fortunately, one ticket agent with nothing to do recognized the absurdity of the situation and sold us tickets with no waiting.  This was fortunate as we got to the train just minutes before it left the station.  To get to Windsor, we had to transfer to another train at Slough for a short 5 minute ride to Windsor.  Coming into the station we saw a parking lot jammed with giant tour busses.  We realized that we could expect the same kinds of crowds we encountered at Westminster Abbey the day before.

Walking from the platform to the town center, we observed that the town of Windsor is very upscale yet quaint - perhaps a little too quaint - bordering on touristy.  I was surprised to see the Castle looming right over the town center.  I had envisioned castles being off on their own, but here the town grew up in the shadow of the castle.  Even though we arrived about 20 minutes before the gates opened, there were already hundreds of people waiting to get in.  We wondered if we would encounter crowds like this everywhere we went.  I convinced myself that things couldn't possibly be as crowded once we left London.  We used our Great British Heritage Passes for the first time.  Admission at Windsor Castle is expensive - about one forth the cost of the pass.
 

Windsor Castle The building in the foreground is St. George's Chapel.  In the background is the Round Tower.  The State Apartments are in the upper ward beyond the Round Tower.  The picture is taken where the changing of the guard ceremony takes place.

There are no guided tours at the castle.  Instead they give you a pamphlet with a map showing a suggested tour route.  However, we ignored the suggested route in order to see the changing of the guard in the lower ward.  Tourists seem to love guard changing ceremonies.  We knew that we would not be around to see the most famous one (at Buckingham Palace) so we were glad to catch Windsor's version.  There really isn't much to see.  A squad of new guards marched in, a band marched in, a couple of guys march back and forth, the band plays some music, this repeats itself about 10 times, and eventually everyone but the new guard marches off.  It all seemed rather pointless, but in England, tradition is the only justification one needs.  All was not traditional, however.  I commented to Susan that the band was not playing traditional military band music.  Just then they broke into a rousing rendition of the theme song from Hawaii-5-O.  We wondered what percent of the very international crowd could name that tune.

After the show, we headed up to the top of the hill to see the State Apartments.  The opulence of the palace was astounding.  We were particularly impressed with the art work on display - especially the portraits of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.  Included on the tour was the newly restored St. George's Hall and the new Lantern Lobby, both rebuilt after the 1992 fire.  The great hall was interesting because it is lined with coats of arms of all the Knights of the Garters.  Susan had fun looking for the crests of her ancestors.  On the balcony was the stunning armor of the King's Champion.  The scene at the castle was a lot like Westminster Abbey.  Almost everyone paraded through, spending no more than a minute in each room.  We were one of the few who stepped aside and lingered over individual portraits and objects.  The guide book is worthwhile as there was very little in the way of signage.

As you walk around the grounds, you constantly hear and see planes overhead as Windsor is just a few miles from Heathrow Airport.  We saw a Concord fly overhead which was pretty interesting.  Back at the bottom of the hill, we went through St. George's Chapel.  This is a magnificent work of perpendicular gothic architecture and the final resting place of many British Kings and Queens.  In this way it was similar to Westminster Abbey, but being the royal family's private chapel, it seemed much more dignified.  The medieval quire stalls, decorated with regalia of the Knights of the Garter were very interesting.

We left the castle by early afternoon and walked to the Royal Windsor Horse Show.  This is one of the biggest horse shows in Britain.  We started by getting a light lunch at one of the food trailers (a pork sandwich).  We then wandered around to see what was going on in the arenas.  We soon learned that we were unprepared with regard to footwear.  The recent rains made the ground a bit muddy in places.  The show was really very similar to festivals we had been to in the U.S.  They even had the same obnoxious habit of forcing you to buy an expensive book just to get a schedule of events.  Since we were only going to be there for the afternoon, we skipped the book and just wondered from arena to arena, shopping in the vendors tents, but not buying anything.

First we saw a junior jumping competition and then a sheep dog demonstration.  We had seen similar demonstrations at home, but this gentlemen had a beaded collie - the breed of dog we have owned for 13 years.  Unfortunately the beardie was not behaving and disappeared into the crowd, only showing up again at the very end of the demonstration.  The boarder collies behaved much better.  The most charming event was the kiddy steeplechase.  Little girls raced ponies around the main arena, jumping over "hedges" along the way.  The barriers were really just for show as the ponies didn't even have to jump to clear them.  The people next to us were betting amongst themselves on who they thought would win and we joined in the fun.

The main event of the afternoon was the final round of a jumping competition with teams from British Military units.  For this event, the Queen and her entourage showed up (with much fanfare).  After the last round, the horses paraded around the ground, the winners lined up in front, and the queen walked out onto the field to award the trophies.  Being an avid horsewoman, I presume Her Majesty came prepared with better footwear than we did.  Many of the locals seemed just as excited as we were to see the queen.  It is something that only a small percentage of visitors experience.
 

The Queen (in blue) at the Royal Windsor Horse Show We were about 50 yards away so the picture was enlarged and cropped.  It was also a bit overexposed (I don't know why but this is a problem with my camera).

This was the finale of  afternoon sessions, and since we couldn't really stay for the evening events, we started back to the train station.  Along the way we stopped for tea.  Like the pubs, tea is another British institution all visitors must experience.  It was hard for us to slow down and take time for tea in the afternoon.  We always seem to be rushing off to somewhere, but this day the timing worked out just right.  Besides, we really needed a break as we are not accustomed to being on our feet all day.  After tea we walked back to the train station, arriving just seconds before it left the station (our good luck with trains continues).

Back in London, we stopped at the English restaurant recommended by the hotel desk clerk the previous day.  It was a small place with only about a dozen tables, and there were only a couple of other parties there.  I had the three course meal (smoked salmon starter, fish and chips, apple pie).  The apple pie was different from the traditional American type.  Back at the hotel, we were both exhausted from a whole day of walking.  Susan was content to watch television but I was intent on doing some more ale research so I went to the pub at the corner for my only  pint of the day.
 
 

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