Windsor Castle

Our first stop of our weekend outing was Windsor Castle. This might have been my favorite site so far from the entire trip. I was super tired from only sleeping about 3 hours the night before and didn’t realize what I was going to see but when I got there I got really excited. Windsor Castle was first built as a military fortress and when you look at its surroundings you can tell that its location was very strategically planned out (with it being on top of a hill.) Also, i've been wondering why every castle has windows with small narrow slits in them. I learned that they are wider on the inside of the castle and this is because people with arrows or guns can maneuver more easily on the wider side and can be blocked by return fire. We learned that it has been housing royalty for over 1,000 years! It was very very large, apparently it was about the size of 268 tennis courts! Our first stop once inside the grounds was St. George’s Chapel. It was finished in 1475 under King Henry VIII and its architecture is in the late gothic style. The highlights in here were the 24 knights carved into the sides of the chapel. This was to show the current knights and it had their names, their colors, their shields etc. they all had a sword that was half way out of its strap, symbolizing their readiness to fight and defend the crown. Each one was different and they were very detailed. Once a knight died his knight was removed from the chapel and in its place would be an empty space waiting to be filled. I snuck a picture of Prince William’s knight. Another highlight was a small box that was built up above the altar. This was built specifically for Catherine of Aragon. It was her own private worshiping box, where she could over look the ceremonies in solitude. Finally, in the chapel there were many famous people buried including the infamous Henry VIII himself. I tried to sneak a picture of his grave but it didn’t turn out very well. Another famous person buried there was Henry’s wife (well one of them) Jayne Seymour.
After the chapel we walked around outside for a while. We noticed that the queen was not there that day because of the specific flag that was flying on top of the castle. The different flags are all the public can know as to whether or not the queen is present. We then went to see Queen Mary’s Dollhouse. This was amazing! I tried to sneak some pictures so you all could see it but they didn’t turn out very well. This house was amazing! It was all built to correct proportions and it even had electricity, plumbing, and a working vacuum! Why don’t they make these anymore? Finally, after this we saw the state apartments. This is the part of the castle that the queen doesn’t live in and is open to the public. There were bedrooms, dining halls, and art rooms. It was absolutely amazing. One room was very large and dedicated to all of the knights. They each had a shield on the ceiling. If they were forced to leave dishonorably their shield was removed and in its place was a white shield (so everyone would know what happened.) guess you just couldn’t disappear and forget your mistakes… We also saw the room where each knight was knighted. Finally we saw the room where the great fire of 1992 started. This fire did a lot of damage but it was all rebuilt. In one room there was damage to the walls and ceiling but the art work was preserved. Also in that room, instead of replacing the wood floor which was covered in black ashes, they simply removed each tile and turned it upside down.