Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle
Windsor - Berkshire, UK
We took a bus trip with three stops: Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and the Salisbury Cathedral.  Of the three, this is the one that I wish we could have spent more time.  It was fascinating and beautiful beyond my capability to describe it with words.

When we arrived, we were given a headset for an audio tour to help explain the historical context of the castle grounds and of the rooms inside the castle as you visit them.  I've heard of this technology before, but this was the first time I've had the opportunity to experience it, and it really is brilliant.  Unlike guided tours, you can hear the presentation with crystal clarity, and you can pause it whenever you like to soak in your surroundings without missing any of the information.

Windsor Castle was built by William The Conqueror in the 11th Century AD, and it's been the longest occupied palace in Europe since Henry I was the King of England.  The grounds are secured by members of the Queen's Guard.  I got to see a changing of the guard in the section of the grounds that you see below.

Photography wasn't allowed inside, but you could take as many photos as you wanted on the castle grounds outside.  As much as I love taking photos, I'm kind of glad that they had this rule.  If photography was allowed inside, I know that I would have spent too much time framing and trying to get the right light to capture everything.  There simply was so much to see inside that taking pictures would have distracted me from being able to live in the moment and truly experience the castle.