Windsor Castle - An Introduction
Perhaps one of my favourite tourist spots while in London was a visit to Windsor Castle, the weekend retreat of the Queen.
To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect, but suffice it to say it was more than worth the visit. On my next trip to London, I have every intention of returning - I was so enamoured of the place.
Once you reach Windsor (a small town about 35 km west of London), you realise that there is the town Windsor, AND the Castle Windsor is a part of the town - quite an intriguing site for a boy from Oz… 
On the main road leading up to the castle is a fairly imposing statue of Queen Victoria (I think) cast in a black colour (I assume painted bronze???), holding a ball and sceptre. She’s a bit of a forbidding looking woman…
The Statue of Queen Victoria, outside the entrance to Windsor Castle
On the day we turned up, it was drizzling (big surprise in London - rain - who would have thunk it!!!) so we had our umbrellas up.
First you go in and pay your entrance fee (I forget how much I paid, but I believe an adult ticket is approx 12 pounds now) and then join the queue to enter the castle.
We had a nice old english chap by the name of Mo as our initial guide, and he explained about the belt and garter symbol you see all over the place - an interesting story is that one.
Mo, the Guide at Windsor Castle
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry, or knighthood, originating in medieval England, and presently bestowed on recipients in any of the Commonwealth realms; it is the pinnacle of the honours system in the United Kingdom. Membership in the order is limited to the sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and no more than twenty-four members, or Companions; the order also comprises Supernumerary knights and ladies (e.g., members of the British Royal Family and foreign monarchs).
The order’s emblem, depicted on insignia, is a garter with the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense (Old French: “shame upon him who thinks evil upon it”) in gold lettering. Members of the order wear such a garter on ceremonial occasions.
Order of The Garter symbol on the wall at Windsor Castle
Order of the Garter symbol
One thing I vividly remember was the near-constant noise of jet aircraft flying in the area. Apparently Windsor is fairly close to Heathrow Airport, and since they are a mega-busy airport, there are always planes flying to and fro. Mo was obviously totally familiar with this and immune to the noisy interuptions, as he just keep talking and didn’t give them a 2nd glance.
Shows I come from a small place with that one staying in my memory - a plane an hour is really busy in Perth, whereas Heathrow probably gets several planes every 1-2 minutes!
OK, that’s enough for now - we’ll come back to Windsor Castle soon, with plenty more pictures and comments on great things I saw and did.
Tags: queen, windsor, windsor castle