Castles

Besides the obvious Buckingham Palace and our next door neighbors Will and Kate at Kensington Palace, I've visited a few castles during my semester in England. In this post, I'm going to talk about Hampton Court and Windsor Castles. I do have to make a quick clarification; typically when a building is called a Palace, it is because it's meant for royals to live in. A castle is meant for defense, but these days they are also pretty much for living in.

 This is the first part of Hampton Court, which was built by Henry the VIII. This trip was part of my history of the monarchy class, and we got a two-hour tour of the place, which is massive and confusing. What is really cool about this particular picture is that nothing in the photo (excluding the floor) has been altered since Henry's reign, which means we say the same thing he saw while standing there.

Believe it or not, this picture is still of Hampton Court, but it's the back part of it, which was altered by a later monarch. It is beautiful, but it is much more modern than the front half. It's an interesting sensations to experience to see the huge passage of time in the architecture.










This is the outside of Windsor Castle, which is called the Queen's favorite castle. The Queen refers to Buckingham Palace as her office, and Windsor as her home. We didn't spot the queen while we were here, but I do have to brag a little, because I saw the queen once in London for a breif moment. I was looking out the window of my room, and there was a sudden flash of photography, then the queen came out of the resturant next door and got into her car, and ran down stairs yelling "God save the Queen"

This is the Chapel inside Windsor which the Queen regualrly attends church at. This is the spot where a lot of royalty is buried, including Henry VIII.

Castles and Palaces are a huge part of England and it's been a pleasure to learn about these amazing buidings and the people who have occupided them.


Cheers,
Sarah