The first stop of the day was Windsor Castle. Here is a little background (obtained from our great tour guide Debbie. With the British kingdom left without a proper heir to the thrown in during the medieval ages, a fight to be king was sure to be taken place between the kings brothers to try to take the thrown. After brothers battled it out, it was between Harold Godwinson, the final brother left standing, versus William of Normandy. With the help of hired mercenaries, William won the battle (Battle of Hastings), which eventually lead to him taking the crown of England. As King he was not to popular at first as he gave away their land to the mercenaries as payment. However, one of his main goals was to establish a state-of-the-art defense system for london. After building the Tower of London, he build a series of castles 25 miles away (the number of miles an army could march in one day) from the Tower with each castle being 25 miles between each castle, creating a network of defense for the city. One of the castles was Windsor Castle, the only one remaining of William's castle network as the rest were raised sometime around the English Civil War. Well enough of history of now. Let's get some visual pleasure:
Here is a somewhat normal view of the castle. The largest and first part of the castle is the round tower to the right of the picture. Depending on where the queen is, the flag with either fly the standard British flag or the European Union flag.
As it once was a castle used for defense from rebellions, the castle still has its old walls (including this portion of the wall to allow archers to shoot arrows throw the narrow slots.
At 11:00, the guards change. I have a video too but I couldn't upload it for some reason.Besides these pictures, I have many more that will be posted to the right, along with the other pictures that I took yesterday. Also, the guards at Windsor did not allow pictures to be taken inside the actual castle and rooms, which is a shame as ALL of the room are soo ornate and beautiful. There was the dining room which was able to fit 160 people at a table and had shields on the wall with every knight that was ever crowned. Another room had all different kinds of guns and swords along with booty from military victories from the world (including a gold lion head with crystal teeth from India and a crown from Ethoipia). Well, I think it is time to move on.
Our next journey, over 2 hours away is Bath in the Western Part of the Kingdom. I took some great pictures of the English countryside, including this:
The countryside reminded me a little of Northern California, as the rolling hills were filled with livestock and endless greenfields. Before we got off the bus at Bath, we had a little tour of the town. Here we saw Bath's circus, which is comprised of dozens of rounded row homes facing a circular park (Jack Nicholson and Nicholas Cage have houses here). Also, all of the older building are made out of the same limestone facade meaning that they will have the same color exterior, which ends up making a very pretty town!
Anyway, back to the Roman Baths. Discovered by Celctic tribs and then the Romans once they conquered, the natural hot springs of Bath were used for its healing powers and eventually as a toursit trap for a small town of around 100,000. Here is a picture of the baths:
In the same complex, the museum had a lot of other cool things from the Romans for instance mosaics and curses left by people that told of stories written to Roman Gods. As we were getting on the bus I saw this statue, I thought it explained their obsession perfectly:
After Bath, we had one more stop and it was Stonehenge. And no it was not built by aliens, but real people (supposedly). Although it was in the middle of no where and surrounded by 3 highways, Stonehenge is incredably nice place. I took the most pictures here. Here are a couple:
Well, that was pretty much it for that day. I will post the rest of my pictures on the right hand side since I took so many. Enjoy and stay tuned for Greenwich and Portabello Road Market tomorrow!
Our next journey, over 2 hours away is Bath in the Western Part of the Kingdom. I took some great pictures of the English countryside, including this:
The countryside reminded me a little of Northern California, as the rolling hills were filled with livestock and endless greenfields. Before we got off the bus at Bath, we had a little tour of the town. Here we saw Bath's circus, which is comprised of dozens of rounded row homes facing a circular park (Jack Nicholson and Nicholas Cage have houses here). Also, all of the older building are made out of the same limestone facade meaning that they will have the same color exterior, which ends up making a very pretty town!Anyway, back to the Roman Baths. Discovered by Celctic tribs and then the Romans once they conquered, the natural hot springs of Bath were used for its healing powers and eventually as a toursit trap for a small town of around 100,000. Here is a picture of the baths:
In the same complex, the museum had a lot of other cool things from the Romans for instance mosaics and curses left by people that told of stories written to Roman Gods. As we were getting on the bus I saw this statue, I thought it explained their obsession perfectly:
After Bath, we had one more stop and it was Stonehenge. And no it was not built by aliens, but real people (supposedly). Although it was in the middle of no where and surrounded by 3 highways, Stonehenge is incredably nice place. I took the most pictures here. Here are a couple:
Well, that was pretty much it for that day. I will post the rest of my pictures on the right hand side since I took so many. Enjoy and stay tuned for Greenwich and Portabello Road Market tomorrow!
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