A Trip to Windsor in 32 Photos

Today brought the much anticipated trip to Windsor Castle! I have been looking forward to this since I found out we were going. The history is quite amazing. William the Conqueror chose the site and almost every monarchy since has made their own personal additions to it. (Official website here). The Queen spends most of her weekends here and hosts many international functions in the state rooms. We were able to tour the inside of the state rooms, but photography was not allowed, so I offer you 32 pictures of the outside of the castle and the surrounding town.

An inner court yard

The wall on the left is about 13 feet thick (I believe).

This is a little peep hole that was used for archers to shoot their bows through!

The area that used to be the moat is now the most lovely of gardens

 A nice pond. I can imagine the Queen likes to have her tea in the summer time out here.

(I also wonder what she feeds the pigeons. They are huge!)

The castle functions more like a small town rather than a royal residence. Around 150 people permanently reside here!

An overview of the area from the top of the hill

Inside this part are some of the state rooms

 The plaque calls this a gun, but I'm not sure I agree

 Here we have a cannon that was recovered from a shipwreck

The inner court yard again

A guard on the far side

Another lovely part of the moat-gardens

 I love the sky in this one

 I forgot what part of the castle this is, but it reminds me of the Tower of London, so I like it

Some guards marching up the street

A nice little Irish pub where we ate lunch

(I had a burger and fries. It wasn't too bad!)

The Crooked House of Windsor (aka the Shrieking Shack)

Its actually a cafe where you can get tea and a light lunch

I believe this is the original wall that William the Conqueror built in the late 1000s.

There is a surprisingly nice shopping center in the town as well. Lots of nice shops and restaurants.

Portobello Road Market

Today Lauren and I spent the afternoon at Portobello Road Market and Covent Garden. Portobello Road Market is this street that is lined with cute little shops of all sorts and on Saturdays the streets close down and stalls are put up that sell all sorts of antiques, food, and knickknacks. Some of my favorite sights include:

A vintage human anatomy dumby. My dad has one of these in his office and I loved to play with it when I was a kid (who are we kidding? I still like to take it apart and put it together again). 

 Tea cups and kettles and everything in between in a gazillion different patterns.

 The red one in the middle was my favorite pattern.

 Lauren ended up purchasing a few of these little trays. Adorbs!

 I am very partial to anything covered in farm animals

 This is one of the permanent shops that is there (and presumably open everyday). It was mostly men's wear, but it had some women's items. It was very sporty, like something Kate Middleton would wear in her down time.

 I loved all these little figurines!

 The Humming Bird Bakery!

 The art on the walls look like cupcakes!

Adorable brownies. They ended up being a little dry and floury, but that was after it had been squished in my bag for several hours, so I won't rule them out completely (yet).

 The take away cupcakes come in little Chinese take-out boxes.

The red velvet was the BEST I've ever had. I'm normally not a big frosting person but this butter cream (or whatever it was) was phenomenal!

 Lauren and her Diet Coke in a glass bottle.

 Some vintage sports equipment. There were footballs, rugby balls, and a cricket bat, among other things

Vintage suitcases

This guy kind of creeped me out, but he was sitting on nothing!

Another guy sitting on "nothing"

(Spoiler alert! He was supported by a beam and a small seat that came up through this sleeve from the pole. But its still cool, even when I know the secret!)

Here we have some shops at Covent Garden

A weird corkscrew that I found amusing.

A man singing beautiful opera music.

 The piece de resistance! Henry VIII and Cardinal Woolsey in the Trafalgar Square tube station. There were lots of other political figures pasted on the walls, but obviously the Tudors are my favorite dynasty so I had to photograph them.

Well, folks, there you have it; my trip to Portobello Road Market and Covent Garden. The only things I ended up buying were the brownie, cupcake, some toner from Lush, and the most amazing chicken/bacon sandwich that I just finished. I am pleased to say that I am very happy with the food here in England, and that I have not had a bad meal yet! (Knock on wood)

Tomorrow brings Windsor Castle which is sure to be a jolly good time! Also, in case you were wondering, "What about the Jack the Ripper Tour?", it was an interesting tour around the East End, but there really wasn't anything to photograph (besides the exact spot where one of the victims was found, but Lauren wouldn't let me take her picture laying down like a dead body so I don't have a picture of it). Perhaps on a slow day I will do a post about the story and theories about who Jack the Ripper really was. I have my theories.

Cheers!