The Queen's Residence (day fourteen)

Windsor Palace

The view from Windsor

Windsor

changing of the guard

another view of Windsor

Today I visited Windsor Palace.  The Queen of England considers this her home and Buckingham Palace her office.  After walking through I can see why.  Windsor has housed the royal families longer than any other residence in the UK.  One of my favorite features I saw within the house today was the display of Queen Mary's doll house.  She collected miniature things. For one of her birthdays she received a house to put then all in.  It is completely to scale and absolutely amazing.  It is also all done in the correct period/style.  I had the wonderful opportunity to see drawings done by Leonardo Da Vinci.  This was a great experience.  Walking through Windsor was crazy in the fact that royals had walked the very paths I was walking.  My favorite room is breathtaking.  You round the corner on your guide and you literally can't believe your eyes.  There is gold leaf of the carvings on the walls and gorgeous chandeliers.  Another room in the house I found interesting is a room containing shields for all of the knights that had been part of the garter association.  The shields line the walls as well as the entire ceiling.  This room was renovated after the fire, but is still done in Gothic style as it originally had been.  

Watching changing of the guard was different than I thought it would be.  I didn't know they played music when the guards switched or that they did a funny little shuffle.  It was fun to watch.
Following our trip at Windsor I went to Abby Road.  I even got my picture taken with three friends walking across the road like the Beatles! I also found out that they have a camera there so if you go on a website you can see yourself walking across Abby Road.  Creepy, I think. Just a little… but cool.