We Didn't Start the Fire...

…but it was always burning, since the world’s been turning.  Well the fire was in 1992, so one year old me all the way over in America definitely didn’t start it. 

Sunday Courtney and I took a quick train ride 20 minutes outside of London to Windsor.  Windsor Castle is the Queen’s very favorite weekend home.  I wish my favorite weekend home had 1000 rooms.  Or that I had a favorite weekend home.  Or a weekend home at all. 

Me and my bestie Kate.

When we arrived in Windsor, we looked through quite a few shops on a quaint little street.  We then headed to lunch.  Which turned into a two hour affair.  This whole European custom of not brining the bill until you ask for it is getting pretty old.  We waited over an hour because our waiter seemed to disappear right about the time we were ready to leave.  How convenient.

After lunch we headed to the main attraction of Windsor, its namesake, the Castle! There was an extremely long line to get in.  Way to kick us when we’re down.  Courtney and I passed the time with our favorite game.  Hilarious as always.

Windsor Castle!

St. George's Chapel, which was closed since it was a Sunday
and churches need to do churchy things on Sundays.

After buying our tickets, security checkpoints, and numerous photo ops we finally began our tour!  I of course had an audio guide which I listened to faithfully while Courtney walked at breakneck speed through every exhibit.  

The first thing we saw was Queen Mary’s Dollhouse.  It was very impressive.  It was made as a replica of Windsor Castle and apparently has running water.  Not sure why that’s  necessary.  Oh royalty, the things you waste money on.  

Queen Mary's Doll House.
I can claim this as my own because it looks about as good as a picture I'd take.
But really thanks Google Images and some poor person
who was probably thrown out of Windsor Castle for taking this less than spectacular photo.  

We then moved on to the Drawings Gallery.  This contained 60 pictures in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne.  I loved all of the photos, but my very favorite was one taken by Ian Jones of the Queen passing by Prince William at the Sovereign’s Parade. 

Just adorable.
Sorry I'm not sorry, Ian Jones for stealing your picture from  Google Images.

Finally, we finished our tour by passing through the State Apartments.  These rooms are used by guests of the Castle as well as by the Queen for various functions.  My favorite room was the Waterloo Chamber.  My entire house back in good ol’ Rochester could fit inside this room.   But even more impressive were the portraits. All of the portraits in this room were of foreign dignitaries, yet they were all painted by the very same man.  I learned this though the super awesome audio tour.   I also learned about how the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992 destroyed many of the State Apartments.  In one of the rooms, the floor was charred, so to fix it each board was removed and flipped over and replaced.  Fun facts. 

The Waterloo Chamber, empty when I saw it!
But no photography, ever.

Before heading back to school, we stopped in a few more shops.   Courtney and I had both seen a store called Cath Kidston a few times in the city.  We both thought it looked super cute, so we decided to venture in.  Great choice.  It’s the UK version of Vera Bradley.  I was loving it.  We finished off the day with some Apple Pie ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s before catching an early train back to London!