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Once we gathered our family and things into the rental car and checked out of the London hotel, we were able to relax a little. We set the GPS unit (nicknamed "Philippa") to guide us through the streets of London and onto the west-bound M4, the highway that we always use to get to Cardiff. It was 1:00 PM. We realized we were hungry. "Why don't we stop for lunch in Windsor?" I suggested. |
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Windsor is a small town located on the Thames, just about 20 minutes out of London. It's home to Eton College, Ascot Racecourse, Britain's LegoLand and one of the favorite residences of the Queen. You can see the top of Windsor Castle when you're speeding past the town on the M4.
We'd only ever stopped there once before: at the end of our 2005 trip, on our way TO London.
It was the day after Prince Charles' wedding to Camilla and the tiny town was still festooned with decorations -- and yellow crowd control ribbons.
The visit was remarkable for the tacky souvenir royal wedding shotglasses we purchased while we were there, which display the wrong date for the wedding. (Pope John Paul had passed away that week and so the big day had to be postponed... but there was no time to change the date on all the commemorative tchotchkes that had already been manufactured for sale.)
I remembered being charmed by how pretty the town is, and how lovely a view it is from the river. And my mum-in-law -- who is a big fan of the Queen -- had never been there before, and seemed to get a vicarious little thrill from being so near to Her Majesty's favorite castle.
Meals were a little problematic throughout this trip. My mother-in-law seems to have a physical reaction to anything at all spicy, a malady shared a bit by my daughter. I was always trying (in vain!) to find dishes that were both tasty and low-carb/low-calorie. My husband has been trying to eat foods that are low in cholesterol (but basically just shies away from red meat). We ended up eating a lot of Italian... but after three days in London, I was getting a little bit tired of that.
Fortunately, we quickly settled on the Mills House Cafe, a charming little restaurant that served very nice hamburgers (Megan), salads (me) and sandwiches (everyone else), along with proper English tea (as if there's any other kind to be had in England).
Once fed, we were free to explore the little town. We crossed the street to the castle and were surprised to discover that it is open to the public. We weren't up to taking the time for a tour (and like most historic attractions in Britain, the entrance fees weren't cheap), so this is something we'll save for a future visit.
We wandered past the castle and towards the river, where we discovered a home that had once belonged to architect Christopher Wren (who rebuilt dozens of churches after the great London fire of 1666, including St. Paul's Cathedral).
Windsor looks like it would be a great place for a weekend getaway, and we could have easily spent more time there-- but we needed to get home to Cardiff. We hopped back in the car and were delighted a couple of hours later, when we spied the little Bristol Channel islands of Flatholm and Steepholm -- evidence that we had finally arrived back in Wales, where we would stay out the week.
See the rest of my photos of Windsor, England at Flickr here.
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