Windsor Castle and Eton College

Friday (1 Jun 07) - Took the day off to go on a road trip with Ba and Mum to Windsor. Driving out of London was a real nightmare especially on a weekday when we had to take lots of detour to avoid the congestion charge. But once we got out of London, it was much easier going along the motorway.


We had a picnic lunch by the River Thames. Mum said swans in the UK are white and those in Perth are black. Come to think of it, she is right! I don't remember seeing any white swans in Perth! Should bring a white one back with us to Lake Monger!

A view of Windsor Castle from our car park.

Outside the walls of Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle (Official Residence of Her Majesty the Queen) is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. First established by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, the Castle has been enlarged and rebuilt by monarchs from Henry II to Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen still spends most of her private weekends at Windsor Castle.

This year is the Diamond Wedding Anniversary of the Queen and Prince Philip so there is currently a special exhibition of the story of five royal weddings from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II. We saw a really sweet picture of when Prince Philip met the Queen for the very first time - she was thirteen and he was around 18 or so and they were playing cricket.....must have been when the love first blossomed...how romantic! Of course, Garry wasn't paying attention to these details. He was more concerned as to why Prince Charles turned out looking like a clown but his dad was so good looking back then!

The State Apartments - it was a shame that we weren't allowed to take photos inside. I really liked the banquet room where the ceiling was decorated with the crests of all the knights. We were told when a particular knight did something wrong to shame himself, his crest would be blanked out. Today, this room is still used by the Queen to host lavish banquets for important dignitaries.


You should try and spot the aeroplane in each picture! A plane flew above the Castle almost every five minutes (probably because Windsor is quite close to the Heathrow airport). I wonder if the Queen is kept in a sound-proof room during her stay at the Castle to avoid being disturbed by the planes zooming past.

St Georges Cathedral on my right. Ten monarchs are buried here, including Henry VIII and Charles I. It is apparently the most beautiful building in Windsor but unfortunately it was closed on the day we were there. Will have to drag Garry back to Windsor just to see the Cathedral, but luckily the admission tickets are still valid for 12 months.

After Windsor Castle, we went to Eton College. For any Prince William fans out there, this is the exclusive secondary school attended by him.

Unfortunately Eton college was closed for school holidays so we couldn't see what the inside was
like. Apparently when it's school term, you can see heaps of the Eton schoolkids dressed in their tailed jackets, waistcoats and tophats.

Eton Library

Eton Bridge that links Eton to Windsor - the Bridge that Prince William would have walked on many times on the way home to visit his granny!

Little toy soldiers and the royal coach displayed at a shopfront.