Late for Tea with the Queen

Since we finished Legoland earlier than we expected, we decided to head into the town of Windsor (which is also where Legoland is located) to check out Windsor Castle.  Windsor Castle, was originally built by William the Conqueror around 1066, so yes, this castle is now over 1000 years old!!  It has been used for a variety of purposes over the years but most recently, it is used as the Queen's weekend residence.  Not to shabby!

Sadly, we got to the castle about 10 minutes too late.  Apparently they close tours at 4PM and we got there about 4:10.  So much for seeing the inside of a functioning castle - I feel like we've seen a ton of old castles without furnishings that date back hundreds if not thousands of years, but for the most part they have been empty shells.  To actually go and see a castle where people (about 500 people actually live in/around the castle grounds) live - to witness items from past and present, would have been really cool.  Guess we'll just have to go back!!

Instead we took a few outside shots and then hoofed it around Windsor which is an absolutely adorable little town.  And bonus, they had a GAP!!  Yes, a Gap!!  So I went shopping :)  Of course, I had just placed an order about a week ago on their eu site but alas, there is nothing like shopping in person so I picked up a few things much to the chagrin of my family that had to wait for me as I shmoozed my way through the store.

We're going to see a castle!!

First view of the castle... I wasn't 100% sure this was actually a part of it til we got a little closer and yup, it is...

Getting along for the moment

Part of the castle...

The good news - the kids no longer freak out and get excited should they see a McDonalds (which also happened to be 2 doors down from this Starbucks), however, they have become coffee addicts as they stand here drinking their coffee frappuchinos.  And insist on stopping at every Starbucks we see...

More castle

Cute town of Windsor

Shopping!

Aidan in front of the castle

Guards working hard...

Little side street as we wandered around

Click on the picture to see what it says.  Pretty cool history of this building (full pic below)

Called the Crooked House for a reason.  Aidan tries to push it back up...

I spy a GAP!!!

Liam took this picture as I was beelining it to the Gap :)

We went to a cool little pub for dinner - it was nice to get away from buffet Legoland food!!  And Aidan was my adventurous eater as always and decided to try Figgy Pudding... what an amazing kid!  And actually it was pretty good :)  

So while we missed tea with the Queen, it was still a fun adventure to go check out the castle from the outside, schmooze around town and then have a great dinner in a yummy British pub!

Besos,
Julie