A Castle in the Country

For Wednesday, the mid-point of our trip to London, we planned a short excursion outside the city to Windsor Castle, the current residence of the royal family. It's a short train ride away with a single transfer to get to this picturesque setting:


The castle has a healthy dose of the old, imposing style of the Tower of London -- it is an actual castle, after all -- but is rather different on the inside. It certainly feels less "old," though I wouldn't rush to call it "modern" either. Lavish furniture, paintings, and tapestries throughout speak clearly to the hundred-year history of the current royal line. Among the more interesting items within are busts of famous war leaders and prime ministers, an enormous ceremonial hall lined with hundreds of family crests on the ceiling, a great staircase landing adorned with a massive array of weapons, and a large dollhouse filled with replicas of things throughout the castle itself.

This is one of the places they don't allow you to take picture inside, however, so I'll have to instead show you some examples of the scenery outside. An enormous and lush garden is maintained all around the central tower:


I have a raft of pictures of the flowers alone, which were beautiful and in a way more inspirational than the ostentatious display inside the castle itself.

For those who want to watch the famous "changing of the guard" ceremony, but don't want to brave the mob that I understand forms at Buckingham Palace, you can see the guardsman at their oh-so-rigid duty here at Windsor instead:


In all, we spent maybe three hours both walking around part of the outer castle wall and touring the interior. Because it is a short trek outside London, I would probably say that any London tourists running very short on time might be too rushed to consider making time for this vacation stop. That said, if you do have a more forgiving schedule, Windsor Castle certainly offers an interesting afternoon.