Windsor Castle (and Othello)

Windsor Castle

Thursday morning we had another early start, but this time it was worth it since we were going to see Windsor castle. I wasn't that excited at first -- we did see castles in Paris after all -- but then when I saw it, I was very happy.And the train ride was nice. We saw the MI6 building on our way over there. Then we arrived. The castle was very pretty and very different from the French castles.
See?

Before we went in though, we stopped for food. THAT was amazing. It reminded me so much of one of my favorite movies, Wild Child, on the scene where Emma Roberts and Alex Pettyfer go on a date and he makes her try the "humble chip butte" and it is the most adorable scene ever.

And this restaurant was the cutest thing ever. I tried their version of pot pie. It was a bit weird. They had a version with lamb (ugh! I can't. It seems so evil!) and a version with what I thought was beef and pork. It turned out to be "beef and ale" (it was cooked in at least) so, maybe not my favorite thing of all time. BUT the fries (chips) were pretty much the best thing I have tasted. It was worth it just for that. Plus, the weird lemonade I was served was delicious. (Plus the waiter was cute. :p )

After that we entered the castle. It was so big! And green! Lots of spaces between things. Here are a few shots. 

After that, we went inside. The entrance hall was amazing. 

After that we weren't allowed to take photos, but there were some pretty cool highlights. I loved seeing the original portraits of Elizabeth 1, Mary 1, Edward, and Henry. They were fantastic. In addition I really loved the throne room for the Order of the Garter Ceremony. 

After we had come out of the castle, we saw three things. 

The St. George Chapel, the changing of the Guard, and Queen Mary's Doll House. 

The guards were, as you'd expect, pretty straight-faced in their uniform grey winter jackets. (the red are for summer)

St. George's Chapel was much like the chapels in France, but with an obviously stronger gothic influence. The most unnerving thing about it was that they had the remains of Jane Seymour buried in a vault under one of the tiles. It was an honor, I'm guessing, since she was favored by Henry VIII (his 3rd Wife, died in Childbirth) but personally, I found it a little claustrophobic, but then, I think I'd rather be cremated anyways. 

One of my favorite things was Queen Mary's Doll House (no photos allow for any of this) 

It was HUGE! At least 4 x 5 feet. And it was soooo detailed. It reminded me a lot of the stuff my mom made for us when we were kids. Only, hers was cooler and she didn't need lots of money to do it. That was the only thing that sort of bothered me about this doll house (and this GORGEOUS set of doll clothing and doll -- too big for the doll house by a lot -- that was given as a gift to the young Princesses) on one hand, it was soooo beautifully crafted and must have brought that little girl so much joy. On the other, it was clearly a lavish luxury. I couldn't help but think of all the mouths that could have been fed.

We actually finished in the Chapel, so after that several of us bought postcards and the like (our director decided to splurge on a mug, much to the amusement of several of the students). He did ask our advice though.
One of the coolest bits of this though, was when he asked which of the two mugs he should buy, one of the girls pointed to Mug #1 and said, "that one, because it's less girly," she did have a point, but since I really believe in gender equality, I said, half joking, half seriously, "way to reinforce gender stereotypes,"
And her answer? She stopped, looked at me seriously for a moment and said, "Yeah, you're right, that really is reinforcing gender stereotypes." and then went on with her advice giving. It was a very cool moment, because even though that is SUCH a Hollins thing, she was able to pull back and realize what she was doing on accident and give my comment value. Needless to say, I was impressed and happy.

We headed back, after that, and split off, some of us going to Shakespeare, and some of us going home. I was in the Shakespeare group, as the performance we were going to was for a class.

The way over there was gorgeous.

And then, of course, here was the theater:

We met our theater outside the theater and she informed us that it was not common for the Londoners to dress up to go to shows, since most of them come from straight from work. I could have sworn she was looking at me when she said that (but of course she wasn't, since I was wearing a long coat at that point that was in no way overly fancy) since I had on a red velvet dress. Oops.

The show itself was . . . not bad. It had a lot of dance numbers, which was weird but cool, and interestingly moving sets. The thing that bothered me the most though, was they had this electronic game thing -- arcade game, sort of -- that was lighting up and moving and oh my goodness, it was distracting. I think it stole the show. It made up for it a little though, by the actress who played Emilia, who was VERY good. She moved me deeply with her performance. Othello was good too, though I did struggle to understand the modern twist (SPOILER: Desdemona is murdered on Pool Table, not her bed, which I think takes away a lot of the symbolism.) Still, it was worth seeing and I enjoyed hanging out with my classmates. 

That's all for now -- stay tuned tomorrow to hear about my adventures at a London University! 

Hope you've enjoyed!

~ E

P.S My overly fancy dress.

Overdressed much? Red velvet . . .