Eton & Windsor

Before I post pictures of Eton and Windsor, I would just like to mention what an empowering and confidence-inspiring feat it has been for a directionally challenged person such as myself to feel that I can navigate a city as large as London, both at street-level and Tube-level, in about a week. Today I traveled to and from our center in Holborn without my usual gaggle of friends and felt positively comfortable and independent! Not to mention I quite love being a smart American. Seeing people who make fools of themselves by standing on the left on the escalator makes me laugh a little inside, like I'm becoming a true Londoner. (You stand on the right and pass on the left on the escalators. The opposite of how the roads work, actually.)

Anyway, on to the fun part: pictures!

The five images below are from Eton, a small town outside the Windsor Castle, where the school of Eton is located. It is a very well-to-do private boy's school of about 1300 students, aged 13 to 18, each paying about 30,000 pounds a year to attend. To get your son into this school, you put him on a waiting list almost as soon as he is born and he must have good test scores around age 11 in order to attend. Prince William and Prince Harry both graduated from Eton.

Captions to follow each picture.

Swan Farm on the Thames outside Eton

Just to give you and idea of what Eton looked like; so quaint!

The uniform worn by boys at Eton

We took a peek inside the courtyard at Eton...gorgeous!

The chapel at Eton

The rest of these pictures are from Windsor Castle, the Queen's primary residence. Windsor is also a town of about 2,000 people that surrounds the castle, which was built in about 1066 by William the Conqueror to prove his authority over England. Since then, each monarch has made their own additions to the castle. Captions to follow when necessary.

A street in Windsor

Statue of Queen Victoria, the longest reigning monarch. Queen Elizabeth II will become the longest reigning monarch if she reigns until September 8th, 2015.

Town Hall, where Prince Charles and Camilla got married. Also where Elton John was married. Praise the queen!

An adorable crooked house that wilts a little bit each time it rains and dries.

Public entrance to Windsor Castle grounds


The Chapel at Windsor Castle, basically built to be more impressive than the one at Eton.
Some of the foliage at the castle; you could smell the honeysuckle!
The Queen's apartments. One of these towers is the tower from which King Edward VIII made his broadcast speech abdicating the throne to his brother, King George VI (the plot line of The King's Speech). Edward did this to marry Willa Simpson who had three strikes against her: She was American and twice divorced, but worst of all--Catholic.

Couldn't get much closer to a guard...
Some of my good friends! Katie W, Jeanne, me and Katie H
Our last glimpse of Windsor Castle! Look closely, Matt's in there somewhere...
(Matt is a guy we couldn't find when were supposed to be headed back to Chelsea and we had to leave behind. Don't worry, he got a train back and has a good sense of humor about it.)

More on general London life tomorrow!