Arriving in Windsor, we checked out where things were for later, including where the 'French Brothers' boats would be leaving to sail the short distance (only 10 minutes) along the Thames to the racecourse.
Then we headed up to the castle hoping to enter at 12pm. Our London Pass clearly stated that we could enter free of charge AND bypass the queues... No such luck with the queuing, according to the people organising entry there, and I was ushered to a seat where I could wait in comfort (the walking stick gets me lots of assistance) while poor David had to stand in the queue for 20 minutes.
We finally got in after 12:20pm, and spent the next two and a half hours viewing the exhibits (no photos allowed to be taken inside), including the Staterooms, the Drawing Room, the Queen's dollhouse, and the St George's Chapel. It was all very interesting. Not long after entering the castle, it started to drizzle, gradually getting bad enough to need our umbrella up (luckily we had it) - people were scattering everywhere for shelter. We carried on, especially enjoying the Staterooms and the Chapel. I marvelled at how they had managed to save so many priceless and irreplaceable treasures from the devastating 1992 fire.
My knee was beginning to 'pack up' by the time we wanted to leave the Staterooms and head to the Chapel, and I was grateful to be offered a ride down in the lift, and then we were out into the moderately heavy drizzle to get to the Chapel. We had enjoyed the exhibits, but were both feeling very frustrated with our audioguide devices - they had touch screens that more often than not didn't work, and sometimes the sound recording cut out, so we were starting to get brassed off. It did spoil things somewhat.
We finally got in after 12:20pm, and spent the next two and a half hours viewing the exhibits (no photos allowed to be taken inside), including the Staterooms, the Drawing Room, the Queen's dollhouse, and the St George's Chapel. It was all very interesting. Not long after entering the castle, it started to drizzle, gradually getting bad enough to need our umbrella up (luckily we had it) - people were scattering everywhere for shelter. We carried on, especially enjoying the Staterooms and the Chapel. I marvelled at how they had managed to save so many priceless and irreplaceable treasures from the devastating 1992 fire.
My knee was beginning to 'pack up' by the time we wanted to leave the Staterooms and head to the Chapel, and I was grateful to be offered a ride down in the lift, and then we were out into the moderately heavy drizzle to get to the Chapel. We had enjoyed the exhibits, but were both feeling very frustrated with our audioguide devices - they had touch screens that more often than not didn't work, and sometimes the sound recording cut out, so we were starting to get brassed off. It did spoil things somewhat.
We had a rather cursory look in the Chapel (I'm embarrassed to say) but managed to listen somewhat to one audioguide between us. When we were leaving, I was lucky to be holding David's hand, because I managed to trip yet again and he definitely saved me from going down! The sole of the shoe on my right foot (broken ankle) seems to catch on things.
We headed out into the town's shopping mall and stopped for a very late lunch/early dinner at 3pm, at the Wagamama, and both dined on Teriyaki Chicken and rice - very nice. Then we texted Murray and Lorraine who had already arrived in Windsor, in spite of the rain, and we had a coffee at Costa with them before catching the boat to the racecourse, arriving around 4:30pm.
The rain was getting more constant, but we thought we would be OK up in the Grandstand with our 'Grandstand entry'... No... Our £21 entry each (plus a further £3 each for a race book) only got us sitting on some lower concrete steps (not proper seating at all), and not under cover, in the bottom area of a grandstand - it was really primitive!
Yikes! David and Murray went off to see about getting entry or an upgrade to the 'Club' area (though we knew we weren't dressed to their dress standard). They came back to say they'd found a kind man who said he'd let us into another section, and off we went, around to an old wooden stand. We had wooden seats to sit on, right by the finish line, and under shelter, but it still wasn't anywhere near the standard we're used to in NZ and Australia.
Yikes! David and Murray went off to see about getting entry or an upgrade to the 'Club' area (though we knew we weren't dressed to their dress standard). They came back to say they'd found a kind man who said he'd let us into another section, and off we went, around to an old wooden stand. We had wooden seats to sit on, right by the finish line, and under shelter, but it still wasn't anywhere near the standard we're used to in NZ and Australia.
I was glad I'd eaten earlier, because there was nothing there for me - the fries were coated in flour, for some bizarre reason. The guys were brassed off with the service - it was easy to get bets on (David only used the tote, but Murray was used to bookies so used them), but trying to get a drink from the bar was ridiculous - taking 25 minutes on one occasion, with no queuing system, and servers not knowing how to operate the till...
The track has an unusual figure 8 layout, but it was hard to tell from where we were sitting. Thank goodness for a big screen showing the race, opposite the stand. Worryingly, there was an accident after the first race, just beyond the finish line, when a horse pulling up on the tight bend slipped on the wet grass and clipped another horse. Both horses then lost their jockeys and one jockey was left lying very still before being taken away by ambulance. The races were meant to be 30 minutes apart, but there was a 20 minute delay while the stewards and jockeys examined the track to see if it had become dangerous because of the rain. They eventually decided to continue the meeting.
However, none of us were very impressed with the place, and with the delays, and the boat and then trains to catch back David and I decided to leave after only the 4th race, rather than after race 6 as originally planned (there were to be only 7 races). Murray and Lorraine decided to stay for one more race. So we said our farewells and promised to keep in touch. We caught the first boat leaving, just in time, and got the 8:24pm train out of Windsor Central to Slough. Then changed trains for Paddington, where we arrived at 8:57pm.
I pause here to comment on the pronunciation of Slough. Was it like rough, or cough, or though or through? No, it was pronounced like plough! The good old English language!
We stopped at a Marks and Spencer Simply Food at Victoria Station to grab some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast in our room, and arrived back at our hotel at 9:45pm only to find that we'd been locked out of our room!! David had to traipse the long route back down to Reception, where he was told he must've had his key card too close to some other cards - rot, they were in pockets on opposite sides of his shirt, and when they replaced his key with new ones, we found the original second key sitting back inside our room had been deactivated too! They must have forgotten the arrangement that we were continuing in the same room after the first two nights on Insight's account. Also, there was no bath gel replacement in two days for our room (one tiny bottle to last two people for three days?). And no one in housekeeping or reception was answering the phone - the service in this place was going downhill...
Finally we got to bed, with me finishing this blog post, David trying to sleep... 11pm at night and we had the sound of concrete drills and other heavy banging noises very nearby... They were renovating Victoria Station.... in the middle of the night... (we'd heard nothing the previous nights)! We were meant to be here another 5 nights yet...
Not our best day today, but still some great experiences and wonderful to see these famous places!
The track has an unusual figure 8 layout, but it was hard to tell from where we were sitting. Thank goodness for a big screen showing the race, opposite the stand. Worryingly, there was an accident after the first race, just beyond the finish line, when a horse pulling up on the tight bend slipped on the wet grass and clipped another horse. Both horses then lost their jockeys and one jockey was left lying very still before being taken away by ambulance. The races were meant to be 30 minutes apart, but there was a 20 minute delay while the stewards and jockeys examined the track to see if it had become dangerous because of the rain. They eventually decided to continue the meeting.
However, none of us were very impressed with the place, and with the delays, and the boat and then trains to catch back David and I decided to leave after only the 4th race, rather than after race 6 as originally planned (there were to be only 7 races). Murray and Lorraine decided to stay for one more race. So we said our farewells and promised to keep in touch. We caught the first boat leaving, just in time, and got the 8:24pm train out of Windsor Central to Slough. Then changed trains for Paddington, where we arrived at 8:57pm.
I pause here to comment on the pronunciation of Slough. Was it like rough, or cough, or though or through? No, it was pronounced like plough! The good old English language!
We stopped at a Marks and Spencer Simply Food at Victoria Station to grab some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast in our room, and arrived back at our hotel at 9:45pm only to find that we'd been locked out of our room!! David had to traipse the long route back down to Reception, where he was told he must've had his key card too close to some other cards - rot, they were in pockets on opposite sides of his shirt, and when they replaced his key with new ones, we found the original second key sitting back inside our room had been deactivated too! They must have forgotten the arrangement that we were continuing in the same room after the first two nights on Insight's account. Also, there was no bath gel replacement in two days for our room (one tiny bottle to last two people for three days?). And no one in housekeeping or reception was answering the phone - the service in this place was going downhill...
Finally we got to bed, with me finishing this blog post, David trying to sleep... 11pm at night and we had the sound of concrete drills and other heavy banging noises very nearby... They were renovating Victoria Station.... in the middle of the night... (we'd heard nothing the previous nights)! We were meant to be here another 5 nights yet...
Not our best day today, but still some great experiences and wonderful to see these famous places!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving a comment!