Talk about 'conspicuous consumption! Of course, nothing King Henry VIII did was ever subtle, but this Palace was actually built by that scoundrel Cardinal Wolsey as he wormed his way into Henry's court. Talk about a suck up! Wolsey was in the 'in' crowd until he couldn't secure a divorce from the pope for Henry from Katherine of Aragon (wife #1). That's when Henry decided that he was so close to God that he would form his own church. No ego involved here!
So what Wolsey started, Henry expanded. On an average day, 600 people were fed twice a day so not surprisingly, the kitchens were massive and the fires multiple. The dining hall had multiple tables that were displayed with tablecloths explaining how the guests and staff were seated, how they were expected to eat, to sit, to dress, etc.
The whole castle was grand scale. The gardens and surrounding lawns even bigger.
It so happens there was a food festival going on today so we meandered through that as well. Lots of families coming in for a lovely day as today was a 'Bank Holiday'. No clue as to the significance or really if there even was a significance to the Holiday.
I booked a shuttle from Hampton Court to Windsor Castle as my research told me it was the best way to get to the Castle. The shuttle only ran once a day at 12:15 so we had to rush a bit through the last part of the Palace. One needs a full 3 hours there to see everything but it worked out.
It took about 35 minutes to get to Windsor so we were even further out from London. Richard, our driver, warned us not to attempt an Uber on the way back to London as the traffic would be brutal due to the 'Bank Holiday'.
Windsor is every bit as beautiful and imposing as you have seen on TV and in photos.
St. George's Chapel is used everyday and closes at 4:30 to prepare for evening services so we made that our first stop. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed anywhere inside at Windsor. So much history in the chapel and so many tombs. That poor Queen Victoria lived 50 years after her beloved Albert died. She made a beautiful addition to the chapel in his honor but was so distraught she did not attend his funeral. She wore black and mourned him every day for those 50 years.
A side shot of the Chapel; quite ornate architecture.
Of course, protocol is as pervasive at Windsor as it is at Buckingham. How many receiving rooms does one really need? LOL! The Queen spends most weekends at Windsor except when she's at Balmoral.
The town of Windsor is quite a bustling place. Shopping promenades, hotels and restaurants abound but we just had to venture to adjacent Eton so we could see the College. Very quaint college town with stately brick buildings. I actually expected more of a grand scale.
So now we have to get back to London. What a schlep to the train station. It's no wonder I did 17,000 steps today. Train ride to the Tube to Victoria Station = 1 1/2 hours.
A quick dinner, blogging and to bed so we can arrive tomorrow morning at 6am at a train station for a 14 hour day to Liverpool. What was I thinking????? I booked it for Dom as he is a huge Beatles fan.
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