The Queen and I

Sunday, May 16

   Sorry about the lack of updates this week. As you can imagine, it has been tremendously busy. Sunday, we took a trip out to Windsor Castle. We could not have prepared ourselves for the magnitude or scale of the castle. Not only was it esthetically shocking, the age of the castle blows one's mind. It is a gorgeous structure, still completely intimidating to onlookers at the exterior but beautiful the second one enters the gates. The moat has been transformed into stunning gardens and we were lucky enough to be supplied with a digital tour that explained every corner of the castle. We viewed Queen Mary's dollhouse (deemed creepy by most onlookers) and walked through the Royal art gallery, taking in the amazing sight of Da Vinci's original sketches and portraits of the Royal Family. Then we travelled room to room in the actual castle, left breathless at nearly every room. The details, from the doorknobs to the chairs, are perfection. Rooms are adorned in pure gold and jewels, furs and fabrics individual to only certain parts of the world are found as rugs and draperies, and the designs on the tapestries and paintings are nearly ethereal. And the history blows all of the decor our of the water, a far as amazement goes. The structure has been there for centuries; its just amazing to think of the knights that strolled through the same halls as myself. It was eerie sitting in rooms that were the place of major decisions that defined history...so much to take in. Also a cool note, one can tell when the Queen is in residence based on the flag flying. The royal flag, not the Union Jack, was flying when we were there which meant she was too! Afterwards, we went to the oldest pub, dating back to the 1600's, and had an amazing traditional English dinner. Good old Shepard's Pie! Finding more and more that Americans are far more effusive than the English. Waiters still continue to be shocked by how thankful I am for the napkins they bring to the table.