It's been more than 20 years since I've been to Windsor Castle, so I thought it was time to go back! Unfortunately, the semi-state rooms and Queen Mary's Dollhouse were both closed. But at LEAST St. George's Chapel was open, which I hadn't seen previously so I was THRILLED about that, since it's the final resting place of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away last month on September 8.
MIND THE GAP!!
These lovely ladies were ready to hit up Windsor Castle! We took the fast train out to Slough where we switched to the local to Windsor. There were some LEGIT bullet trains going through Slough and we thought this was super funny for some reason. They were FAST.
The good thing about a visit to Windsor Castle is that the train station drops you off RIGHT at the castle, which of course is the LONGEST occupied palace in all of Europe, having been built after 1070 by William the Conqueror. The clock you see up on the Curfew Tower is from 1689, but the walls here are from the 1200s.
The town of Windsor is a super cute little town. It gives you all the feels.
Awww. This makes me sad. Think whatever you want about the royal family, but the idea that these two humans were recently on this earth and now they are not is always sad to me. This is an Annie Leibovitz photograph from 2016 (when the Queen turned 90). This large photograph is pictured in the entrance room where you purchase/scan your tickets.
To the castle, this way!
We spotted the State Apartments not far from where we entered the castle grounds. This is the north side of the "Quad" (what is this, Auburn University??) and here you can see St. George's Hall, which was originally constructed by Edward III in the 1300s. Charles II and George III (of Mad King George fame) and George IV all added to it over the years. And that's actually a statue of Charles II on the left there.
The Round Tower is one of the most recognized parts of the castle - the original tower on this site was from the 12th century, however this was built up around the 1830s.
One of the weirdest things about Windsor Castle is the fact that it's so close to Heathrow Airport. Can you imagine what William the Conqueror would have thought about seeing airplanes like this??
The Edward III tower was built sometime between 1350 and 1371. Edward III was actually born at Windsor Castle, and he was probably one of the most influential in it's expansion, having built this tower, the State Apartments and St. George's Chapel among other things.
We loved these little adorable crowns on top of the lights at the gate near the Edward III tower!
Julie actually remembered to bring her tiaras and they were a huge hit! The staff at the castle thought they were hilarious!
I forgot mine, and I'm still kicking myself over it. But Julie let us borrow hers so Bay and I could look equally amazing and regal.
This area in front of the Round Tower is actually a moat that once surrounded it. This feature is actually one of the originals that the Normans built in the late 11th century. Henry II rebuilt the original keep around 1180, but the mote is now just a beautiful garden!
I mean, isn't that lovely - all the greenery growing in the moat!?
Here we are on the other side of the moat, facing the Edward III tower.
Fun fact about Windsor Castle: There are 400 clocks here, and there's one guy in charge of making sure all of those clocks are in good, working order! There are also 300 fireplaces!
It's definitely fall here in England - and the changing leaves make the Round Tower look even cooler!
The State Apartments are here on the left, and the private apartments are directly ahead in the background.
We only got to visit the State Apartments when we were at Windsor Castle because Queen Mary's Dollhouse and the Semi-State rooms were closed. BUT... as I mentioned before, we were able to visit St. George's Chapel, which was a highlight for me since it was closed the last time I was here. And of course, the State Apartments never disappoint! You get to visit the ceremonial and the historic rooms - the room in the picture above is the King's Drawing Room, and the walls have several large Rubens paintings, as well as some Van Dyck.
I really liked the Garter Throne room, which is where Queen Elizabeth used to hold the investiture for newly appointed Knights and Ladies of the Garter. The portrait of the late Queen on the left was done by James Gunn, and she is wearing the collar and badge of the Order of the Garter. Interestingly, when she sat for this painting in 1953, she was not wearing the Royal Diadem (the tiara)! She and the artist decided later that it should be added!
You might recall Harry and Meghan first showed the world baby Archie in St. George's Hall. This particular room was destroyed in the November 1997 fire. The fire started in Queen Victoria's private chapel when a construction spotlight got too close to a curtain, which ignited and sparked the fire. When the chapel was renovated, it was transformed into the new Lantern Lobby. It's basically a little room between St. George's Hall (above) and the Semi-State apartments. It's actually a cool room now, with a little memorial to the exact spot that the fire started. The room is filled with flasks, tankards, chalices, flagons, jugs and other various drinking vessels.
This place REALLY burned during the Great Fire. Nine staterooms (plus over 100 other rooms) were destroyed.
I'm glad they brought back that gilded ceiling!
I just wanted you to get a glimpse of this room (the Grand Reception Room) because it's really something else!
I wish I had been able to take a picture of the Waterloo Chamber because it was very impressive - particularly the ceiling (you know I love a good ceiling!) I took this picture of the Waterloo Chamber off of the Windsor Castle website but it doesn't really do it justice. The Duke of Wellington beat Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, so the Monarch had a room dedicated to him. Directly from the Windsor Castle website: "The Indian carpet, woven by the inmates of the Agra prison for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1894, is thought to be the largest seamless carpet in existence." Now that's a cool superlative if it's true, but you may remember the Sheikh Zayed mosque has a carpet that is much larger (although I do not believe that is seamless as it comes in many very large parts.)
We finished up the tour, bought some goodies at the gift shop, and headed out to get in line to see St. George's Chapel!
MANY famous royals are buried here at St. George's Chapel, and there have been many famous weddings and baptisms here.
Members of the royal family had historically been buried at Westminster Abbey, but that changed when Victoria had her husband Albert buried at Frogmore Cottage (just down the road, also on the Windsor Castle property). Since then, many royals have been buried here at St. George's or in the Frogmore Mausoleum.
Thanks for letting me borrow your tiara, Julie! There have been many weddings here (including the more recent wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle) but the first one of substance was the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward who married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The Prince of Wales would, of course, go on to become King Edward VII. Other notable weddings at St. George's include the wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie of Wessex (Queen Elizabeth's youngest son) in 1999, and Prince Andrew's daughter Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank who married there in 2018.
Looking back into the Lower Ward toward the Round Tower from the entrance to St. George's Chapel. You also cannot take pictures in the Chapel, but we were able to see MANY notable graves, including those of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip.
There are two aisles that run parallel to the quire (the center aisle, so to speak) and many of the royal vaults are in this area. George V and his wife Mary (Queen Elizabeth's grandparents) are buried on the other end of the chapel. Queen Elizabeth, Philip, George VI, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret are all buried where it says "George VI." In the area where it says "Ledger over Royal Vault" they have a memorial on the floor that states the remains of Henry VIII, Jane Seymour and Charles I are buried beneath. Other notable burials include Edward IV and his wife Elizabeth (they lived in the late 1400s), Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, Henry VI, George III and Queen Charlotte, William IV and Queen Adelaide among MANY others.
This guy definitely hates his job when weirdos like me wearing a tiara do things like this.
Whew, if heavy is the head that wears the crown, then hungry are the ladies who wore tiaras all day!
We popped into the Duchess of Cambridge for some fish and chips while laughing at this picture of King Charles III enjoying a pint of beer!
Awww. We saw this at the Windsor train station where we headed after lunch. I like this picture because of the reflection of the train station (mind the gap!)
After the long train back to London, we headed out to search for a place to have a drink in Chinatown before we had to get ready to go to the Skid Row concert! This beautiful gate was "opened" in 2016 and is in the style of the Qing Dynasty.
It's a very busy and beautiful little area!
We went back to the hotel to freshen up before heading out to Kentish Town to grab dinner at the Bull and Gate ahead of the show at the O2 Forum. We totally met this kid (I think he was 19?) smoking outside of the bar who was SO EXCITED about the Skid Row show. We didn't even tell him we were with the band!
Guest tickets, please.
We went upstairs to the Skid Row dressing room and I stole someone's beer. Well, it was handed to me... I'm not going to be rude and say no! I like this picture of my bestie and her hubby having a little preshow chat.
Enuff Z'Nuff opened up for Skid Row, so we ran downstairs to try to catch a bit of the show from the side of the stage. It was funny because people in the audience noticed us and were pointing. I'm literally no one important, just a mom of two here with my best friend!
They were super fun and Chip Z'Nuff is a literal national treasure.
I found this series of pictures on my phone taken as we went up and down the O2 Forum stairway and I could NOT stop laughing. I saved ALL of them. Beer bottle in my hand and stairs.
Skid Row VIP pant sticker.
We ran downstairs at one point to catch some fresh air outside, and there was a bathroom right near the back door entrance. When I went inside, it had a full shower! So weird ha ha.
Finally we made our way out into the general admission area so we could get drinks and stop stealing the bands beverages. It was packed!
But then we had to go back upstairs, but not before snapping this cute pic of Julie and Jen in front of the Skid Row tour poster! Back upstairs, we met up with some Swedish friends of the new singer, Erik Grönwall who were hilarious. More on them in a bit.
Finally the show started and we went upstairs to the booths (we are all too old for crowds like this plus... ewww, germs) where we had a great view of the show!
I love how Scottie's hair is flipping back here!
I feel like I only want to see Skid Row shows up here from now on. SO GOOD!
They released a new album in October (just a few weeks before this concert) called The Gang's All Here which featured Erik for the first time on lead vocals.
Great band, great lighting, terrible iPhone.
Cheers, ladies! Here's to another great show!
Skid Row, rock royalty. (See what I did there?? Purple is the color of royalty! OK, stop rolling your eyes now because I'm trying to bring this day full circle!)
They were filming this concert, so we really got all the bells and whistles, including giant balloons falling from the ceiling! The crowd had a fun time with those!
Our hilarious new Swedish friends joined us upstairs! They are very tall ha ha.
After the show, we went back to the dressing room for the post party. (Well, we always give them some decompression time before we do that!) Jen's daughter thinks Erik is pretty sweet (ladies, don't even think about it, he's married!) so she got a cute picture with him. His story is really cool - he was actually the winner of Swedish Idol (you know, the Swedish version of American Idol) and he auditioned by singing 18 and Life by Skid Row! He's also actually a very recent leukemia survivor. He has got MAJOR stage presence - I couldn't believe how much energy this show had! This picture is just so funny - his friend photobombing behind him!
Gotta grab a cute little family picture of the Hammersmiths!
NO WE ABSOLUTELY DID NOT STEAL A BOTTLE OF VEUVE FROM THE SKID ROW DRESSING ROOM!!!
VIVA LA SKID ROW!
