gnine: (Travel)
gnine ([personal profile] gnine) wrote2009-10-24 12:20 am
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Travel Log: Windsor Castle, England

So, I've spent the last few weeks so busy settling in/attending classes(which I'm greatly enjoying so far)/penny pinching until my student loan money arrived, etc. that I haven't had overly much chance for exploring. But, things have settled a bit, and the money came in (w00t...still a poor, poor grad student, but now have at least a bit of solvency \o/...however temporary it might be :-p) so I decided a little exploring was in order. However, a lot of the main touristy sites of London itself I saw back when I visited [livejournal.com profile] utopiantrunks in 2005, so for my first short foray, I decided to do a day trip to Windsor Castle.



All together it's around an hour out from where I'm currently living so I packed a small lunch and headed out around eleven...thirty...ish...okay, probably closer to noon (c'mon, this *is* me, guys. Getting up anytime before noon on my day off is ALWAYS a great accomplishment, no matter how close to noon it may in fact be... ^_-) and arrive at the castle a little after one.

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This was the outer walls to the castle, on the approach. Thankfully, by choosing to go on a Thursday, the crowds were at a minimum. Though, considering the long roped off line areas they had set up, I have a feeling that is not generally the case.

And then there was this random door in the inner wall:



...what kind of education is taking place there, exactly?

And then in the garden area that seemed to have at one time been said moat, they had some real fall foliage going on.





...Imported foliage, is my guess. Or at least, I'm almost positive that's some kind of Japanese maple, from the leaf shape...I am missing my New England/Japanese falls...alas...but Castles! So...^_^

And, because someone *cough*[livejournal.com profile] byakkodan_slash*cough* complained last time about not enough pics of me, I got a kind soul to do the classic "I'll take one of you if you take one of me" exchange. At two different locations, even!





Then there was the amusing (at least to my warped sense of humor) fact that Heathrow airport is located quite close to the castle, so there were fairly low flying planes going over head on a very regular basis.





I also was able to see the State Apartments, as the Queen is at Buckingham palace for the time being and thus the ones at Windsor were open. And impressive...crazily over the top decorative...but truly a sight to see. As was Queen Mary's Dollhouse, also on display. That thing was HUGE! And the level of detail in...well, just about everything, was incredible. Sadly, no photos were allowed in any of the inside areas.

After that I made my way down the grounds to St. George's Chapel, also located within the castle walls. And sitting there, right on the lawn in front, happy as you please and not at all startled by the numerous tourists passing by was this adorable little one:



Random cat is random. Not sure who's it was, but it was rather...out of place and totally content with that, in a way that only a cat can be. ^_^

Finally, after leaving the castle behind, I wandered down to the Thames...and found swans:



Lots and lots of swans:



There, neechan, I took bird pics, just for you. Happy? ^_-

And that was my Windsor excursion. (If you follow the embedded links on the pics, there are a few more random ones up on my picas album...)



One of these days I'll remember to actually take my camera on the way to class and get some pics of the campus, the area where I'm living and even my dorm itself. Really...really I will. ^_-
ext_3572: (happy seal!)

[identity profile] xparrot.livejournal.com 2009-10-23 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
\o/ birds! ^^

it's so castley...very different from Japan...

[identity profile] libsechumanist.livejournal.com 2009-10-23 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I love Windsor - I only got there once while I lived in London, and of course the Queen was home....so, no visiting for me! I went to a small museum at Eton College to document an Egyptian boat model and it was an interesting little place. If you can made some overnight trips when things settle down, a trip to Portsmouth is a must - especially if you like ships in any way, and Greenwich as well. I'm a maritimer, so of course those are my two favorite trips! And, the Indian restaurants two blocks north of Euston Road off of Gower Street, north of the UCL campus - awesome! Happy classes!

[identity profile] libsechumanist.livejournal.com 2009-10-23 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, and I'm sorry - fantastic photos! I meant to say that first -ooooppsss! I just love the cat hanging out - an aloof English cat - what a rarity! hah!

[identity profile] captainsblog.livejournal.com 2009-10-24 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
...what kind of education is taking place there, exactly?

It's an alligator thing. We're not supposed to understand.

I lived in London in the summer of '83, doing all the Usual Tourist Things, and that castle was one of my favourites. (Wells Cathedral, of all places, was the sweetest of all of them, with the clock where the Silly English Kinnigits joust every hour on the hour.)

My wife and I watched Peter's Friends tonight, a Fry-Laurie and Branagh-Thompson film from the 90s with similarly stately architecture, so this was right in line with all dat.

(If you have no idea whoTF this is, btw? Ask your sister- we met on a message board when we were all much, much younger and I was thrilled to find her, then you through her, on this site a few years back.)

[identity profile] ad-exia.livejournal.com 2009-10-24 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Those are some awesome pictures!
(deleted comment) (Show 1 comment)

[identity profile] ilkaril.livejournal.com 2009-10-24 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
that is a very nice castle :) happy you seem to have fun :)

[identity profile] bluemeanybeany.livejournal.com 2009-10-24 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
Hey Gnine the castle is only 6 miles away from us so you can probably get quite a good idea of where we are now :)Weve never actually been inside the castle because it costs money to get in (there is a trend developing isnt there :)

That cat clearly just loves to sit and torment the corgis- its what I would do if I were a cat.

[identity profile] stitcher2ficcer.livejournal.com 2009-10-26 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
Photo-log the day after your trip again! You sure are getting good about this. Dad and I looked at these together just before I crashed last night, but I was so tired after a long day and several nights of way too little sleep that I was just too tired to comment. But we both greatly enjoyed seeing these... although they may have made your dad jealous and sadder than he already was about not making it over the pond to see you next month. Dad particularly liked the one of all the swans and the one of the church and castle in your Picasa album. He thought the lighting on the church and the huge cloud formations in the background made for a very dramatic shot. I think those are beautiful pics, too; but the one that highly amuses me is the one of the swan studying his pigeon cousin. Very cute. Can't wait to see some of you neighborhood and the school campus.

{{BIG HUGS}}

[identity profile] crashtestskater.livejournal.com 2009-10-26 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
hee hee castles. Ok, I'm happy now. Are you doing anything for Halloween?
naye: A cartoon of a woman with red hair and glasses in front of a progressive pride flag. (hug - abby)

[personal profile] naye 2009-10-27 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
Ooh, England is pretty! And it has castles!! Big castles. That look rather cold.

But, oh, your photos are so much fun! I'm so glad you're having a good time over there~! (You had to go when I was on a different continent altogether, didn't you? XD)
Edited 2009-10-27 05:45 (UTC)

green eyed monster

[identity profile] beautifuljoe.livejournal.com 2009-10-29 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
OK totally jealous ... I'm old, I mean, I'm old and it's been 38 years since I've been there, but hey, the castle looks the same. guess there are some things older than I am.

[identity profile] cienna.livejournal.com 2009-11-02 08:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey! I just moved to London from Japan for school as well, and was wondering if you would be interested in meeting up for coffee or something sometime? I'm also really into SGA and would love to meet more fandom oriented friends here.

[identity profile] zsms.livejournal.com 2009-11-08 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Weeee! I'm glad you're having fun! *HUGS*