Hobnobbing With The Queen - OK, Just Hobnobbing With Other Seniors in The Queen's Home

 This day was spent in the company of other senior missionary couples from the England London Mission at Windsor Castle. I have been to a few castles and been amazed and intrigued, but this castle was huge, elaborate, well-kept and jaw-dropping.

We left early, taking our umbrella and raincoats. I have been looking forward to this day for a week and a half - not only because we were going to be with the other seniors, and not only because we were going to see the largest and oldest occupied, working castle in the world) and one of the most popular tourist destinations in England (with good cause), but because today signaled a return to normal temperatures. I don't think it got quite up to seventy degrees, and it rained on and off, 

There were times that the moisture in the air was visible. The humidity as you can imagine was high the entire day and at the moment measures 84%. I have the window open and the night air is gently breezing through with that freshness that I have come to crave.

We got to the town of Windsor in good time, The lovely GPS that we have come to rely greatly upon, took us to "Windsor Castle" and we could see nothing in sight that looked even remotely like a castle. We bumbled around at least twenty minutes before finding a parking lot, parking and hurrying through a mile-long walking street full of crowds and shops and into the castle grounds. It was shocking to find the huge complex sitting comfortably on 13 acres of land getting along nicely with the crowds of shops and houses surrounding it.

You can barely see the castle up at the end of the walking street...looks a little like Disneyland.

As we got nearer, the traffic blocks kind of spoiled the approach, but soon after passing them, everything was magnificent.

It is the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II. There were policemen and policewomen everywhere. I've never seen so many, SK found out that it was the changing of the Guard today, which always brings in large crowds of people to watch not only inside the castle, but on the streets outside as the soldiers march by to their assignment.  

We caught up to our group and began the royal tour. In the first place, the complex of buildings is massive. We found out there are over two hundred people who work and live there! We loved looking at the model in the entrance room of the tour.

In the model up above, do you see this round building? It is about in the center, and at the top of a hill. When the Queen's flag flied from this tower, it means that she is in residence.

We walked through St. George Church, inside the castle walls, where King Henry VIII is buried, as well as many other notables.

I have only outside pictures because we were asked not to take pictures of the inside of buildings. The church was magnificent. 

We watched the changing of the guard which was quite a ceremony. The new or fresh guard walked into the area in perfect cadence and with the accompaniment of a small band and drums. They went through a routine of procedures, standing in perfect formation as the leading officer shouted instructions. They wear the tall furry hats, which one of my friends said are made of bear fur and date back to Napolean's day in France.  It was fascinating.

We really have not figured out selfies yet!

We marched up the hill to see the royal apartments, which were breathtaking. How does one actually live in a place like that? We walked through the "apartment" of one of the former queens, which consisted of three very large rooms, the smallest one being the more intimate where she received only guests of the highest importance and character. The smallest room had ceilings at least 30 feet high, chandeliers that would be gorgeous in any temple, and incredible artwork on the walls and ceilings. Oh, and it was probably as large as the entire downstairs of our home in Gilbert, including the garage....maybe larger.

What would it be like to live there? Walking through the entire castle's many buildings and grounds would take all day, if not several days. Looking at everything in the collection of art of treasures would take weeks. You can only occupy space in one room at a time, and it seems to me that every monarch and royal family member must have had favorite rooms they spent time in, and probably never in their entire lives saw some parts of that massive castle.

We walked in the garden where the kindest of men (a guard) offered to take our picture.

SK - being SK, or in other words, CH-ing.

We completed our journey through that amazing place and then walked to a nearby pub (It got rave reviews on TripAdvisor) where we had fish and chips - of course, and walked our mile back to the parking lot.

This wonderful couple spend their time working with embassies from all over the world. They introduce them to the church and outline to them what it is that the church does in humanitarian services as well as family history. They are doing remarkable things. Everything they know and do is generally not publicized, but the amount of money the church sends to other countries to help with humanitarian aid is staggering.

We love this couple! They are the Heybornes from Cheyenne Wyoming. It would have been kinder if I had asked them to pose rather than taking this candid shot, but I was trying to get a picture of Sister Heyborne's fish....it reminds me of a scorpion. Ugh.

An hour and a half later we were home in Oxford.