Category: Travels – Kristine

POST-TOUR WINDSOR: QUEEN VICTORIA'S LOO

While we were in Windsor after the tour Kristine, of course, came down with the usual malady she suffers through on each of her trips over. Thank goodness it waited to arrive until after the Tour was finished. While she lay dying in bed at the hotel,  I trotted off to see a few Windsor sights I had missed on previous visits. Nothing like a good friend in need, I thought.  But to tell the truth she was in no mood to be either entertained or conversed with. The best thing I could do was let her sleep!!

One place I was eager to see was the special area in the Windsor and Eton Railroad Station that had been reserved for the use of Queen Victoria and her attendants back in the day.

I had long heard it was in the station, but where?  That station has been turned into shopping mall — which we had visited to enthuse over the Jo Malone shop — a favorite of both of us for special luxurious and fragrant cosmetics,  Never saw the Queen’s loo.  But when I enquired at the station, I was pointed in the direction of All Bar One restaurant at the far end.

And indeed,  it was entirely open to the public, if you knew it was there.  The writing on the door says ‘This room is reserved’ — but the proprietors are perfectly willing to allow one inside.

It was fitted out as a special private dining room — not the actual loo of course, but the associated small waiting rooms used by the Royal party.

The basin and loo were actually glassed off, either to protect them or to continue the exclusivity…if Queen Elizabeth II happened by, would they allow her to use the facility???

Just outside All Bar One, was a  non-working locomotive.

It seems that the locomotive is about all that is left from displays formerly set up on the station by Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, no longer in operation in Windsor.

The text panel reads:  The locomotive is a full scale replica of the GWR Achilles class 4-2-2 locomotive No. 3041. It was built in 1804 and originally named “Emlyn” after Lord Emlyn, Chairman of the Great Western Railway Company. Repainted in 1897, in GWR livery, the great locomotive, 57 feet long was renamed “The Queen” especially to pull the six new carriages of the Royal Train. No examples of these locomotives survive today and “The Queen” (later renamed “James Mason”) was withdrawn from service  in 1912.

Next time you are in Windsor, check it out!  Not as stunning as the Castle, but an amusing sidelight on the Queen who was the first Royal to use the railroads for her travel.

POST WELLINGTON TOUR – THE WINDSOR GREYS

Both Victoria and I were looking forward to seeing to seeing the Windsor Greys when we were there last. The term Windsor Grey is given to grey horses used by the Royalty of the United Kingdom to draw carriages and coaches in various ceremonial processions and, since 1986, when The Queen is Trooping the Colour. They are stabled in the Royal Mews. Some have also represented the crown in various carriage combined driving competitions, at times driven by Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Two Windsor Grey horses, Claudia and Storm, at the Royal Mews in London are available for observation daily. Storm was featured in a statue with another of the type, David. Back in 2012, we ran a post on the drive to raise money to fund the Windsor Greys Jubilee Appeal which was the committe charged with delivering a statue of the horses in time for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Really, these horses couldn’t be a more fitting symbol to honour Her Majesty, who has such an affinity for horses, and because of their link to Royal traditions.

Thankfully, and not surprisingly, the money was raised and sculptor Robert Rattray executed the statue in bronze, which took over a year to complete, and was on hand when Her Majesty unveiled the life sized piece in March of 2014.

The statue stands in the middle of the Kings Road/Osborne Road roundabout, ready to greet visitors. 

As stated above, you can see the Greys at the Royal Mews in London. Below is a display showing how the Greys look when pulling the Royal carriages.

Above and below, Stevenson, one of the horses who are regularly used on the Royal carriages in his stall at the Royal Mews. Victoria snapped these photos while we were there for the Duke of Wellington Tour. 

2011 Trooping the Colour


The Royal wedding.



A Couple In England – The End

And so Hubby and I arrived at the end of our journey. We decided to have our last English meal at the Three Tuns, another of the historic pubs of Windsor that happens to be located directly behind the Guildhall. I wanted my last meal of bangers of mash. And enough rum to drown my sorrows.

“Are you sad about going home tomorrow?” Hubby asked once we were seated.

“I’m home now. I’m sad about going back to Florida.”

“Most people in England would love to trade places with you,” Hubby commented.

“Mad dogs and Englishmen,” I replied.

“Huh?”

“Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun,” I said, referring to our sub tropic Florida weather. Humid doesn’t begin to cover it. I expect that Gunga Din and Wellington felt the same about India.

“The grass is always greener,” Hubby went on.

“How droll. Actually, the grass does happen to be greener in England, where it isn’t scorched by the blazing midday sun on a constant basis.”

“Droll?”

I gave Hubby a scathing look and he dropped it. “What time do we leave tomorrow?” he asked instead.

Oh boy. Here we go. “About tomorrow . . . . “

Now it was Hubby’s turn to glare. “C’mon, out with it.”

I ordered another round from a passing waiter and forged ahead. “After we fly into Newark, we have a four hour layover before our three hour flight to Florida.”

“What?”

“Ssshhhh! Don’t get excited.”

“Excited? Is that what you think I am? Excited? Because I’m telling you right now, excited I’m not. Why would you do that to me?”

“It was either that or wait till the next day to fly home.”

“For Christ’s sake, why didn’t you wait till the next day?”

“I didn’t know which option to choose and then I decided that you’d have blown a fuse no matter which way I went, so I opted for the layover. But it’s okay because Brooke is going to come to the airport to pick us up. We’ll all go out to eat, then we’ll go back to her house for a while and then she’ll bring us back to the airport. So we won’t be stuck at the terminal for four hours.”

This mollified him a bit. A very little bit.

“Listen, the next time you plan a trip to England for us, do it in the summer, will ya? And don’t include London on the itinerary. London is too crazy for me. I liked Bath and I like Windsor. Think small. And when you come over here to look for houses, you’re coming by yourself. I’m not traipsing all over England looking at houses. Understand?”

I kept my counsel, wisely deciding that now was not the time to tell Hubby that when a man was tired of London, he was tired of life.

“Alright, then, I’ll just bring Vicky with me.”

“And that’s another thing,” Hubby went on. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that Ed and I don’t figure in the plans that you and Vicky have for living in England. I’m just hoping you two plan on letting us die natural deaths first.”

“Ideally you and Ed would be dead, granted, but I’ve got everything planned out in case you’re still alive when I move here.”

“Oh, brother. Go on. I can’t wait to hear this.”

“When we move to England, you’re going to raise chickens.”

“What?”

“I’ll take care of the sheep and you’ll raise chickens.”

“Are you nuts? Why would I raise chickens?”

“So that you can barter the eggs, of course. Just think about it, you’ll put on your tweed coat and make your way out every day to collect the eggs. Then you’ll take your basket and you’ll toddle your way down to the pub and trade your eggs for pints of beer. `Here are six fresh eggs in exchange for a pint of your best, my good man.’ I can hear you now.”

“It’s the twenty-first century. No one barters any more.”

“They do in England.”

“You’re nuts. You do realize that, don’t you? Explain to me why I wouldn’t just get in the car, drive to the pub and pay money for a pint of beer. You know, the way normal people do.”

“See, this is why you don’t figure into my plans for living in England. If I asked Vicky to collect the eggs and trade them in at the pub, she’d do it without an argument.”

“Because she’s as nuts as you are, that’s why. You’ll be known as the two crazy American women.”

“Widows.”

“Huh?”

“We’ll be known as the two crazy American widows.”

“Listen, all joking aside, dead or alive, I am not raising chickens. Got it?”

Our dinners arrived and we ate silently for a while. Then I asked, “Did you enjoy anything at all about the trip?”

Hubby looked at me. “Sure. Sure I did, Hon. I enjoyed all the parts that weren’t London, that didn’t involve walking, or rain or being sick.”

As near as I could figure, that left the plane ride over. And Burger and Lobster. And Café Nero.

“I wish you loved England as much as I do.”

“I don’t have to love England. I love you and that’s all that matters.”

I smiled at him as we joined hands across the table. “Next time, I promise we’ll go somewhere warm.”

“It doesn’t matter, as long as we’re together.”

“You mean that?”

“I do, my good man. Now tell me what in the Hell you think you know about raising sheep.”

THE END

A Couple In England – Day 10 – Part Two

After leaving the Guildhall, Hester and I took a leisurely stroll down to the Thames and stood on the bridge.

“One day I’m going to come back and take the boat ride,” I sighed.

“You’ve never done the boat?” Hester asked.

“No. I never have the time. There’s always somewhere to rush off to see.”

“Speaking of which,” Hester said, looking at her watch, “we’d better get ourselves some lunch before it’s time for the kitchen tour at the Castle.”

So off we went and found ourselves a nearby restaurant, where we ordered tomato basil soup accompanied by warm bread with lashings of butter and two lattes. I can’t recall exactly what Hester and I discussed over the meal, though it had something to do with conducting research at the Royal Archives, the families (ours, rather than Royal) and other odds and ends. Afterwards, we made our way to the Castle.

“Tell me the truth,” I said to Hester as we made our way to the entrance, “are you heartily sick of my dragging you to the Castle? It seems like I make you do it every time I visit.”

“But I’ve never seen the kitchens,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

We arrived early enough for us to visit the gift shop.

 
 
 
 
 
I was on the hunt for a Golden Jubilee item to add to my collection and there wasn’t a shortage of items on offer. Which should I choose?  Hhhmmmm. Before I could decide, it was time for the Kitchen Tour, so Hester and I made our way over to the meeting point.
 
 
 
 
 

Above is a rendering of the vast Windsor Castle kitchen in late Georgian days. The present day kitchen tour “takes you behind the scenes to the oldest working kitchen in the country, in constant use for nearly 750 years. Today, staff of the Royal Household use the Great Kitchen to prepare food for both grand ceremonial occasions, such as State Banquets, and more informal events in the royal diary. Your guide will tell you about the devastating fire of 1992 and how restoration work uncovered the Great Kitchen’s original medieval structure. You will hear about royal dining, past and present, and have a fascinating insight into Windsor Castle as a working royal palace.” In addition, the tour includes the State Entrance and the medieval Undercroft, areas not normally open to the public.

 
 
 
 
 The copper cookware you see in the photo above all bear the cypher of King George IV and the cast iron stoves installed by Prince Albert are still in place, though now rarely used. The kitchens were deserted when we tour them, the photo below being one I swiped off the internet, as photography was not allowed.
 
 
 
 
 
  
As stated above, the tour also included halls and passages that are rarely on show, so that we found ourselves walking through stone corridors that appeared untouched since at least the Georgian era. It was a rare insight into this magnificent building.   
 
 
 
 

After the tour, we returned to the gift shop, where I finally made up my mind and purchased the Jubilee beaker above. It now holds pride of place on my living room mantle.

The Final Installment In This Series Coming Soon!