Yesterday, I drove to Reading to drop Mum and Corrie off at the station – they were going to Twickenham to watch the rugby, but there were engineering works between Swindon and Reading so couldn’t travel from Kemble or Swindon.
I decided to make the driving worth-while and after dropping them in Reading, I went to Windsor. The traffic wasn’t great (I did get stuck in Ascot traffic, and the M4 was incredibly slow once I got out of Reading).
I parked in the Home Park car park, just outside the centre of town. I walked up the High Street to the Visitors’ Entrance of Windsor Castle, and went to have a look around one of the Royal Residences.
My first stop once clearing the ticket hall and security, was to go and see St George’s Chapel: The spiritual home of the Order of the Garter, and it is where Henry VIII is buried. Afterwards, I went to look inside the State Rooms – they brilliantly decorated and looked very grand!
I took one of the audio guides as I walked around the castle which told me all about the history of the castle, stories from people who live/work there, and talked alot about the architecture of the buildings and the rooms.
Having arrived at the castle at 2, it was after 4 by the time I left; by this time, the stage on the main street in Windsor’s town centre had started and it took me a while to work out that the choir on stage, the music, etc. were all there for the town’s Christmas Lights Switch-On.
I walked down the street, debating with myself whether or not to buy something from the street food market. On stage, Germans from Coburg (the Bavarian town, from which Prince Albert was born, which donated Windsor’s Christmas tree this year) had made some speeches, and just before I left, Anthea Turner had just appeared on stage.
I didn’t stay long enough to see the lights actually come on though: Mum and Corrie were by this time on the train from Twickenham and would be due in to Reading within an hour. I was still a 15 minute walk away from the car so I decided to make a move.
We got back to Cirencester just before 8, after a long but interesting day out.
Full photo gallery can be viewed on my Flickr account.
FH.
