The Windsor Castle - Europe

Most of us look forward to and wonder about the biggest house in the world. The Windsor Palace covering an area of 45000 square meters, feathers its cap with the honor of being the biggest house in the world. It is one of the main residences of the British Monarch along with Holyrood Palace and Buckingham Palace. The construction and evolution of The Windsor Castle have been directly influenced by many Kings and Queens of England.

Location:
Located at Windsor, SL4 1NJ, Windsor Castle can be reached by road M4 to Exit 6 from London and then M3 to Exit 3

History
The rich history of The Winsor Castle extends almost 1000 years and is inevitably linked with the British Monarchy. Initially built by the Conqueror, William who controlled from 1066 to 1087, the castle surrounded London forming a part of his sphere of castles for defence. The site was a place of easy defence and that is why it was chosen. The property was actually a fortress.

Son of William II was the first residence of the castle as he considered it to the safest place. Since then, several rulers took abode in the fortress for centuries. More buildings were added to the overall structure.

Current Resident of Windsor Castle
The private apartments were modernized and renovated in 1952 which had remained empty since the epoch of Queen Mary. Queen Elizabesth II acquired the throne and made Windsor her primary weekend retreat along with Prince Philip and their two children.

Visit to Windsor Castle
Visitors can mainly see five areas when visiting Windsor Castle:

· The State Apartments

· St. George’s Chapel

· Queen Mary’s Doll’s House

· The Castle Exhibition

· Exhibition in the Drawings Gallery

The semi-state rooms are open to public in the months of October to March.

One window in the vast expanse of the Windsor fort wall.

I guess I’ve come up against an issue with starting to write a blog, i have to back track my recent life for anyone following this to be able to understand. through my work with UK Youth, last week i was required to go to Windsor Castle and stay there for two nights ( I know what a drag!!!).

It was all part of a conference, Vision Not Division: Learning in the 21st Century.

And if I’m honest was a very interesting few days. It was all about how we can introduce Non-formal education into the way young people learn at the moment. And if the Tories get into power, there will be a lot of school time for them to fill if they go through with their proposal to have the school day extended to 6.00pm and on Saturdays.

So its a cause i believe strongly in, so young people get the same opportunities and trying to show that the national curriculum, as it stands, is failing some young people BIG TIME, and its about time that the curriculum changed to cater for everyone, not the elite. There should be something for everyone. And why isn’t there already.

The chair of the conference was Howard Williamson, and here are his opening remarks from the first day!

ENJOY:

Howard Williamsons opening remarks

Ok so its the afternoon of the day after…

Michael Jackson’s This Is It was worth the wait… what an extraordinary film.  I wasn’t sure what to expect or how I’d feel… but it was incredible from start to finish.  Not only did it show what a talent MJ continued to be; at 50 years old he was more than keeping up with all the young dancers and his voice was as powerful and moving as ever – but what a humble charming man he was.  I have to admit both my daughter and I felt quite sober as we walked out – the amount of people who were involved in putting the show together, from around the world, the carefully selected dancers, singers musicians and crew, the set designers, the costume designers, the pyrotechnics, the incredible stage with its pop out reveals,  the film sets for the screen at the back of the stage… the passion, such a shame that it didn’t happen… I’m so glad this film was made because it gives the people involved a chance for the world to see what they had been working so hard to produce – it was incredible.  If you’ve not seen the film, do go before it comes off the screen.

After the cinema, my eldest daughter met me and we drove to Windsor… how beautiful the castle looked as we were driving in.   Standing proud in the distance, a real fairytale castle.  We went to Artique Gallery where people were oozing out of the door ways, laughing, smiling and holding their glasses of pink bubbly… yes, it was rude not to!  So with our champagne in had we ventured in… Fabian Perez, tanned and smiling was like a honey pot to bees… everyone swarmed around him… we pretended we’d not noticed .  The new collection of painting were incredible, dark, sultry and so beautiful.  Having grown up in Buenos Aires with a father who owned night clubs and establishments where ladies of the night frequent, his paintings evoke the night side of life… the sexy, dramatic images of men and women… I was captivated by them all… Having said that, as an official Olympic 2012 artist, the two sporting pictures there were colourful and captured the essence of the game. 

So having asked my daughter to prevent me from buying anything… I found myself in the buying mood… I think the law of attraction played it’s hand too… I had been sent an inivitation from the gallery and on the inside was a copy of a painting of a man adjusting his tie and who had a look in his eye as if something or someone had caught his eye… mmm… lovely.  I looked for it in the gallery but couldn’t see it, then the art advisor came over to chat… I asked if it had been sold?  No, there was no room for it in the gallery so they’d kept it in the back… out it came… oh my, it was just gorgeous… both my daughter and I were taken aback by its passion, it’s depth… and how handsome the study was… giggling, we knew we were being a bit naughty as we have some saving up to do for the big move to Brighton… but as we agreed it’s an investment – the other painting we have have gone up in value… ok ok.. we shouldn’t have… but we did… ok, I did! Hee hee… Fabian came over and personalised the back of the picture for us and made my daughters night by asking her if she’s an artist!  Which she is – more on the film side now though… she was chuffed to bits   So, the painting will be on tour with him for a few weeks and then we get it back!  Oh where to put it! Oh, decisions, decision!

We went for a meal afterwards, it was lovely to chat one to one and throw some thoughts out there.  To talk about whats important to us, and what is not.  We sat by the window and saw many people walking passed dressed in fish net stockings and suspenders as The Rocky Horror Picture Show was at the theatre in Windsor… quite a surreal night all in all!  As we walked back to the car we noticed a light on in one of the castle towers… we wondered if it was the Queen’s bathroom… and giggled imagining her asking Prince Philip to pass the soap… What a lovely night, to end a perfect day….

How was you day and evening?  What made you laugh?   I so love spending time with my loved ones, everyday is a precious day

Enjoy your Sunday!

What a lazy day I’m having… I woke late morning, treated myself to coffee and toast in bed – and a long, fabulous catch up chat with my eldest daughter.  So good to reconnect after a busy week.  A chance to mull over the events and share funny stories.

This afternoon I’m meeting my youngest daughter at the local cinema to see Michael Jackson’s This Is It… we had tickets to for one of his shows in July – so finally having time together to see the film will be a special for us.  Have you noticed how we can bumble along in life, putting things off until tomorrow, things we’d really like to do or have… and then when someones life comes to an end suddenly,  it does come as a shock and put ones own life into perspective doesn’t it?  We realise just how precious our time here is… What have you been putting off that you’d really like to do?

After the film I’m meeting my eldest daughter – we’re off to Windsor to an art gallery where Fabian Perez, the Argentinian, now LA based artist,  is unveiling his stunning new collection of paintings.  As the proud owner of 2 pieces of his art work, I’m always excited to meet the artist – nothing to do with the fact he’s drop dead gorgeous ;)  My daughter who is an art/film student will love this experience, as well as sipping on champagne – and preventing me from making another purchase!   Going to these events always adds sparkle to my life… to see someone who from ’some where’ and ’some how’ has achieved outstanding success – from living in Buenos Aires – becoming a painter… and who is now internationally recognised and who has been chosen as one of the official artists of the London 2012 Olympics!  Fantastic… Mmm… his story focuses me on my goals and Henry Ford’s famous quote springs to mind ‘if you think you can do a thing, or think you can’t your right’ which is it to be?

After our champagne, we’re off for dinner and to admire Windsor Castle by night… it always looks spectacular at night – lit to perfection, it seems to tower (literally) over you as you walk along the winding road that stretches around its solid walls…

This is a perfect day – a day of fun with my girls, a day of treats and remembering live is meant to be FUN!  I’m so aware that they will be flying the nest over the next few years, it’s great to have days like this with them.  What fun things will you do today?  What could you do?  Who would you choose to share your time with?  Who could you call today for a catch up?

Happy Saturday everyone!  Ps… here’s a link to Fabian Perez’s web site www.fabianperez.com

1992 was an Annus Horribilis for Her Majesty but things could have been worse...

I know you are all wondering about the key events that have taken place today.  No doubt there will minor news items about it being the wedding anniversary of Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh and maybe even mention of today being the day of the great fire at Windsor Castle in 1992, but I want to mention a voice you will all be familiar with, if not the name.

Rodger Bumpass, who must surely come second only to Randy Bumgardner in the competition for the world’s most ridiculous name. Nonetheless you, or perhaps a younger member of your family, are familiar with his work.

Bumpass started work on The Jetsons in the 1960s, but now he is famous for being the voice of Squidward Tentacles in SpongeBob Squarepants, so look out for his name next time the credits scream past on your screen.  You know you watch really.

Even though today is Her Majesty’s wedding anniversary which is no doubt always a reminder of the fire at Windsor in 1992, things could always be worse!

It took weeks and weeks of planning, but the parents finally were able to make the journey from the land of cacti, across the pond, and into londontown. The week went by fast with daily touring, play watching, essay writing, train riding, and rain battling. Although they may not feel like they did much, in reality I saw more than I have all semester in London, so either I am pathetic, or we really got around.

took an off season tour of the Globe and saw the beautiful painted sky…

walked across the Millennium Bridge as I explained it significance to Harry Potter…

drove under Tower Bridge with a overly friendly Australian…

looked and walked up to the Tower of London, which I came to find out didn’t look at all like a tower…

mother continued with her love for digital photography…

and father learned the horrors of the tower…

then we got on a boat…

after a day of locking myself in my room to type out an essay, we took a train to visit the Queen at her lovely weekend getaway, Windsor Castle…

after a day running around in the british monsoon, we sat down for tea, which unfortunately included cultural food…

the final day we chose to ride the Eye, which always includes meeting the local street performers…

on the Eye, we waved comically to other air traveling tourists and we reached the height of over 400ft over London…

Beth kindly accompanied us on the journey…

in the end we actually ended up “seeing” all of London, a trip wonderfully concluded.

Inilah rumah, mungkin lebih tepat disebut istana ya.

Inilah rumah (atau istana) yang dinyatakan sebagai yang terbesar sedunia

Rumah ini adalah Windsor Castle.

Penghuninya tak asing lagi adalah Queen Elizabeth II

yang menjadikan kastil ini sebagai kediamannya sejak tahun 1952.

Terletak di Berkshire, Inggris

kastil ini memiliki luas 484,000 kaki

(atau sekitar 45,000 meter persegi).

dibangun di atas lahan seluas 13 akre dan

memiliki 1,000 ruangan.

Sama dengan Buckingham Palace di London dan

Holyrood Palace di Edinburgh,

Windsor Castle adalah salah satu kediaman resmi

para bangsawan monarki Inggris.

England is known for its famous landmarks, beautiful natural surroundings, and those big red buses! An open-top bus tour is an ideal way to see London and the surrounding area, and it is a flexible option as well. If you are looking to see one of the Queen’s residences, Windsor Castle, a hop on hop off bus tour is the way to go.

The City Sightseeing Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour in Windsor & Eton comes complete with a pre-recorded commentary in English, in order to acquaint you with the areas of Windsor and Eton. The best part of this tour, however, is that it gives you the ability to hop on and off the bus at your leisure.

There are 11 stops on the tour, including Castle Hill (featuring Windsor Castle), High Street (Parish Church and Guildhall), Eton Court, and Windsor Bridge. The comfortable air-conditioned bus takes you to the sights that are major highlights in the vicinity.

Children under age 5 are free, and the regular child rate starts as low as $6.95 so this is an affordable trip for everyone. So get ready to experience Windsor and Eton as you enjoy the gentle breeze from atop one of those famous red buses. You won’t regret it!

To check out more on this tour and others in the areas of Windsor and Eton, England visit www.windsortours.net.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is the preferred home of the current reigning British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.

This is another popular haunt for horologists as old Queenie has one of the finest privately owned clock collections in the world. It seems as though every room is adorned by a spectacular clock. Among the collection are clocks by Pinchbeck, Tompion, Ferdinand Berthoud, Mudge, and John Pyke. 

The Charles Clay organ clock (1743) is one of the finest organ clocks ever built which plays music specifically commissioned by Handel.

She has an early lantern clock commissioned by Henry VIII for Anne Boleyn.

The royal family has a full time horologist on staff to maintain the collection. We’ve heard him say in interviews that all the clocks are kept running.

When I realized how easy it would be to go to Stonehenge from London, I started looking into day tours on the web. The option that seemed best suited was a Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Oxford combo. I wanted to go to Bath, but Oxford… is Oxford. My love of books and Universities won.
So this day was pretty straight forward: Three locations, all amazingly beautiful. We did manage to have a bit of a hard time getting from Stonehenge to Oxford since we ran into an accident on the way there, tried a detour and ended up stuck in traffic due to yet another accident, but overall the tour was well worth every penny.

Windsor

Windsor Castle

The view from the castle

Cannon = boom! (epic description for you Arthur)

Changing of the Guard

St. George’s Chapel- easily the most amazing church I’ve ever seen. No photos allowed inside

Around Windsor…

Windsor Royal Shopping

Possibly one of the nummiest tuna melts that I’ve ever had. Thank you EAT.

Goodbye Windsor

Stonehenge

Our tour guide was telling us how Stonehenge potentially is just a giant burial ground marking the land of the dead vs. the land of the living. It was pretty interesting. I also didn’t know before that there are two different kinds of stone that make the two rings.

Our final stop: Oxford

This man and his top hat made me swoon a bit.

After reminding us that Lawrence of Arabia, Tolkein, C.S. Lewis and a million other amazing people attended school here, our tour guide let us know that below our feet were millions of volumes of books. I could have died. If only I could have melted through the cobblestone…

I need one of these…

When we finally made it back to London, Dan and I were hungry so we went out to this little Italian restaurant. The owner was this friendly fellow and this man at the back of the restaurant was enjoying his meal so much he was shouting about it.
We also had a family next to us who kinda warmed my heart a bit. They were having such a wonderful time together. I like things like that…heh

Me pasta – salmon/alfredo

The best tiramisu I have EVER tasted.

Theeeeee end. Didn’t go out this night. Wanted to see Tom and Julia in New Cross but the traffic delays didn’t really allow for it.

Day 5 to come!

K

Hey everyone!  Sorry I’ve been a little absent for the past week.  I’ve been working hard to disconnect while I’m on vacation but thought I would break away to share a few pictures from the first few days of our trip.  (My husband and I are in England and Ireland for our 10th anniversary trip.)

1. London city scape – I love this place!
2. Just one of the many fancy cars we saw throughout London – Merlyn was in heaven!
3. Changing of the Guard at Windsor Castle
4. Windsor Castle – I would live in a castle if I could
5. Merlyn and I at the main gates of Windsor – pretending this was my home
6. The Queens House at the Tower of London – the lawn in front is supposedly where Anne Boleyn was beheaded for treason
7. White Hall at the Tower of London
8. One of the famous London Big Red Buses
9. Merlyn and I at Tower Bridge – it was cold and windy by the water
10. Merlyn and I on The Tube – our mode of transportation for the week

More to come soon!

By the way, a few friends may be sharing some posts on my blog this week.  Show them some love!

And the Queen didn’t even bother showing up.

Thank God for free internet access at this hotel or I would be totally out of my element.
OK so, a bit of updates to be had here, in the past few days mom and I have been all over England it seems. Though one of the downfalls of being an only child is that I have almost zero alone time and I feel myself slipping in and out of sanity….no bother I suppose. How can I complain I am in one of the most amazing metropolises in the world.

Yesterday we went to the London Eye, the big ferris wheel built on the other side of Big Ben to boost tourism here in london. Though I have never been afraid of heights in my life, for some reason the ride had me feeling a little uneasy, perhaps its the fact that each little ‘eye pod’ is connected on the outside of the wheel and it was just inexplicably creep0la.

Forced Smiles on the London Eye

Eye Pod

What's up ben?

After our visit to the London Eye, I was feeling completely delerious and had to get away from my mom for a hot minute. As I’m sure you can understand, 24/7 with 1 parents solo is a little intense, especially because I am known to be a tad hot tempered and as i’m sure you can imagine it gets a little intense… So after a healthy fight I was able to have a change to break off and explore the city by myself for an hour, ipod in hand, and open minded. I even caught the changing of the guard over at Buckingham Palace, a truly glorious sight.

Buckingham Palace CHanging of the guard

The crowd was a little hectic but it was interesting to be in such an international crowd, somethin I would have never experienced while in Irvine.

We also hit up the Absolut Ice bar, an essential while here in London. The bar is kept at a cool 20 F in order to keep everything (that is made out of ice) including cups, the bar, and…the bartenders, completely frozen. It costs 12£ to get in but that includes your first beverage. I must admit its  a little overpriced but again, this is the price of tourism..

Absolut Ice Bar

Another Ice Bar shot

Oh god, as I am typing this my mother is screaming at me because I didn’t properly explain to her how to upload photos on facebook. fuckkkk my life. I cant wait until september 19th when I return to my native Italia!!

OK ok i need to move on with my travels, we went on a 9hr bus tour with a bunch of Obese americans to Windsor Castle, the city of Bath (home of Jane Austen, and the famous Roman bath houses, and of course Stonehenge) Here are some photos from the days tour.

Windsor Castle

Changing of the Guard at Windsor CAstle

Roman Baths in the City of Bath

To be honest, I was very excited to see Stonehenge, and my expectations were not disappointed. For some reason I have an intense and irrational fasication with unexplainable monuments of prehistory. I had a minor aneursym seeing this magnificent site… I mean, how could you not be overwhelmed by its awesome ness?? The unexpected part was that it really is located in the middle of nowhere, about a 3 hour bus ride from London. Because we came in off-season there were barely any tourists either, which made the experience all the more magical

THE Stonehenge

Ok, that’s about all for now. We are in London until friday Sept 5th and then off to Stockholm, Sweden to begin a new adventure. I dont know how good my internet access will be once I leave London but I will try my best. Nonetheless, I have been takin a shit load of photos and plan to upload them all once I return home.
Miss you and love you all

Until next time…..!

photo of Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, March 28, 2007, by Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz photographed Queen Elizabeth. Here’s what she had to say about that experience.
Excerpted from Annie Leibovitz at Work, by Annie Leibovitz, published by Random House © 2008

The Queen

In 2007, a few weeks before Queen Elizabeth visited the United States for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, I was asked to take her portrait. I was the first American to be asked by the Palace to make an official portrait of the Queen, which was very flattering. I felt honored. I also felt that because I was an American I had an advantage over every other photographer or painter who had made a portrait of her. It was O.K. for me to be reverent. The British are conflicted about what they think of the monarch. If a British portraitist is reverent, he’s perceived to be doting. I could do something traditional.

It’s ironic that the sitting with the Queen became controversial. I’m rather proud of having been in control of a complicated shoot. The controversy arose about two months after the pictures were published, when the BBC claimed that the Queen had walked out while we were shooting. This was completely untrue, and although they retracted the claim and issued an apology to the Queen and to me almost immediately, the scandal had a life of its own. The story, which came to be referred to as Queengate, wouldn’t die. Eventually the head of BBC One resigned over it.

When I was preparing for the shoot, I thought about using the landscape around Balmoral Castle, in Scotland. I brought this up in the very first conference call with the Palace. I said that Americans thought of the Queen as an outdoorswoman. I had been influenced by Helen Mirren’s performance in The Queen and I couldn’t help mentioning how much I liked her character in that film. There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

The second idea I had, after Balmoral, was to photograph the Queen on horseback. I asked where she rode and they said she went riding every Saturday at Windsor Castle. I said that I would love to see her in her riding clothes, and in a later conversation I asked if she could stop during her weekend ride and get off her horse and mount it again. That is, could I do a portrait of her in the trees. They said, No, it was not possible. She just rode the horse and came back, and, anyway, she didn’t wear riding clothes anymore. A few days later they said it was going to be Buckingham Palace and no horses.

I realized that I was going to need some time on the ground for this. When we arrived in London, we went straight to the palace and were shown all the rooms, including the throne room—everywhere except the private quarters. And then we scouted the back. There was a wintery sky and the trees didn’t have leaves. It was an appropriate mood for this moment in the Queen’s life. There was no way, however, that she was going to stand outside in formal attire.

For a sitting like this you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You try to have as many options as possible. I kept thinking that somehow I would get the Queen outside, but I began choosing formal outfits. I narrowed the robes down to a very handsome Order of the Garter cape, but then we were told that she could wear only a white dress under it. We were lobbying for a gold dress. I was also hoping for a dress with more body to it. The Queen wears very streamlined dresses now that she’s older, and I wanted her in something with more volume. But she didn’t have anything like that. Finally everyone agreed that she could wear a gold-and-white dress under the Order of the Garter robe. The Queen was 80 years old. She was sturdy, but putting on and taking off a lot of heavy clothes is tiring, and she had to be dressed in layers to expedite things. The gold-white dress became the base.

I was still upset that I couldn’t get her outside. It was so beautiful out there. And it wasn’t cold or raining or anything. I began thinking about what Cecil Beaton had done. He brought in flowered backdrops. Beaton was big on backdrops. He made very stagy portraits. Perhaps because the pictures were made in black and white you don’t notice the backdrops. They sort of go out of focus. I realized that I could do something similar digitally. I decided to photograph the garden and the trees for a backdrop.

The Palace had given us 25 minutes with the Queen, so there had to be a battle plan. I chose a grand reception room, the White Drawing Room, as the principal setting because of the light from the tall windows. Supplementary lights had been pre-set so that when the Queen moved from one spot to another all we needed to do was switch them on. We had constructed a gray canvas backdrop in an anteroom, and she was to come in there wearing the Order of the Garter robe and the dress, but no tiara. The first shot was to be made on a balcony, with the sky behind her. That sky could be digitally exchanged later for the pictures I had taken in the gardens the day before. I didn’t want her to be wearing a tiara in the gardens.

The morning of the shoot, the Queen came walking down the hall very purposefully. She was definitely a force. This was all being taped by the BBC for a documentary. I would never have agreed to their being there if I felt I had any choice, but they had been following her around for months. Their microphone picked up her saying, “I’ve had enough of dressing like this, thank you very much,” as she marched down the hall. Later, when segments of footage for the BBC were edited for a promotional film, it appeared as if the Queen were stomping out of the photo session rather than going into it. Thus the brouhaha.

The Queen was about 20 minutes late, which we thought was a little strange. When that happens, you never know if it can be made up on the other end. My five-year-old daughter, Sarah, had come with us, and she curtsied and offered the Queen flowers, and I introduced my team. At this point I was in shock. The Queen had the tiara on. That was not the plan. It was supposed to be added later. The dresser knew that. The Queen started saying, “I don’t have much time. I don’t have much time,” and I took her to the first setup and showed her the pictures of the gardens. I think she understood what we had in mind. Then I walked her into the drawing room, probably sooner than I would have if things had been going well. She composed herself when I took some pictures.

I knew how tight everything was, especially with the loss of 20 minutes, and I asked the Queen if she would remove the tiara. (I used the word “crown,” which was a faux pas.) I suggested that a less dressy look might be better. And she said, “Less dressy! What do you think this is?” I thought she was being funny. English humor. But I noticed that the dresser and everyone else who had been working with her were staying about 20 feet away from her.

We removed the big robe, and I took the picture of the Queen looking out the window, and then I said, Listen, I was a little thrown when you first came in, and I have one more picture I’d like to try, with an admiral’s boat cloak. I was thinking of one of Cecil Beaton’s last pictures of the Queen. A very stark and simple and strong portrait in which she’s wearing a boat cloak. We went back into the anteroom, where the gray canvas backdrop had been set up, and she took off the tiara and put on the cloak. That’s the shot we digitally imposed on pictures of the garden.

Right after we finished, I went up to the press secretary and said how much I loved the Queen. How feisty she was. Later I mentioned to a couple of friends that she had been a bit cranky, but it was nothing unusual. What was remarkable about the shoot, and I wrote the Queen a note about this later, was something the BBC missed: her resolve, her devotion to duty. She stayed until I said it was over. Until I said, “Thank you.” We were finished a little before our allotted 25 minutes were up.

Readers, for more on this episode, read my post, “The Queen is Mad.”

Do you think anyone would mind if we just never came home?

Even though we went to bed early last night, we still managed to sleep through the night.

We started out fairly early this morning by walking to a different local hotel to be picked up for our tour. Because I absolutely hate being late, especially when it gives people the opportunity to add to the “ugly American” stereotype, we arrive half an hour early.

We stood awkwardly in the lobby of the hotel until our pickup arrived.

Most tour group guides here carry bright umbrellas that they use to identify themselves in a crowd.

Not ours.

Mel, our friendly local guide, used jazz hands. Despite his quirky methods, he was entertaining and helpful.

Our first stop was Windsor Castle. It was huge. It would take us two weeks to thoroughly explore that place. Because our tour group was squeezing three locations into a single day, we only had two hours to explore.

The limited tide did not bother us, though, because for our first time here we want to see as many things as possible. On subsequent trips we will go back to our favorite places and spend more time.

We chose to spend our time exploring the State Apartments. We did have the opportunity to see Queen Mary’s dollhouse. It was never intended to be for children, but is an elaborate way to display her collection of miniatures. It stands more than five feet tall and was absolutely breathtaking. It had working electricity and plumbing.

After this we entered the magnificent apartments. The furniture, art and adornments were beautiful, but nothing was more breathtaking than the ceilings. They had intricately carved stone and wooden ceilings, some of them with gilt accents. They reminded me of something I forgot to mention yesterday. At Westminster Abbey there is a chapel called the Lady Chapel, and it has an incredible ceiling. The ceiling is made of layers of intricately carved stone that make an ornate pattern. I wish I had been able to take photos of some of these ceilings, but it was prohibited.

On our walk back to our coach, we got caught up in the changing of the guard. All activity both inside and outside the castle ceases when this happens. Cars do not drive and no one is allowed in or out. It was very cool to experience.

We next stopped at Stonehenge, which is literally in the middle of nowhere. You can’t get up next to the rocks anymore because people were putting graffiti on the stones as well as chipping off pieces as souvenirs. We were able to walk the perimeter and listen to an audio commentary. I found the commentary incredibly dry, so I just took photos. Jon lasted a little bit longer than I did with the commentary, but did eventually give up.

After only 45 minutes at Stonehenge, which the locals pronounce with the emphasis on the henge, we set out for Oxford.

We learned a little about the rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge universities. Oxford is made up of 39 independent colleges, and Cambridge is comprised of 33. Cambridge is 80 years younger than Oxford.

A woman on the tour from California was telling anyone who would listen that her son almost got into Oxford. I’m sorry lady, but almost getting in is the same as getting REJECTED.

We got to poke our heads into some of the colleges, which are where the students reside. It was a very neat town with many interesting buildings. We took a waling tour of some of the main colleges, including the college of Divinity which was used as the infirmary for the filming of Harry Potter.

Students at Oxford are not allowed to have cars, so there were many bikes all over the town. The students are not currently in residence, but when they are the streets are apparently lined with bikes several deep on the sides.

After our time at Oxford, and a quick stop in their shop to buy a collegiate rubber duckie, we set off to head back to London.

When we were dropped off in the center of the city, we got to have our first experience riding the London Underground. It was crowded and bumpy, but we made it unscathed.

We stopped in a shop for sandwiches before returning to our guest house to find that our bags had arrived.

Never before have I been so happy to see an inanimate object. I am happy to report we are now both in clean clothes and everything appears to have arrived intact.

Yay for us.

Until next time,

Alex

Last week saw me at Windsor, to see the exhibition to celebrate the quincentenary of the accession of the tyrant, Henry VIII. If one undertook the trip and paid the entry fee to the Castle just to see this small exhibition, and did not stay to stand in awe within the splendour of St George’s Chapel, or to marvel at the quality of paintings amassed in the royal apartments, one would be disappointed. There are no revelations or new insights into the career of the second Tudor, and, in several instances, original works by Holbein are substituted by later prints or copies. That, in itself, though, set me thinking.

For someone more familiar with the tale of the late recognition in England of the artistry of the ‘Italian primitives’, what struck me was the recurrent high regard in which the German father of English portraiture, Hans Holbein, has been held. ‘Recurrent’ is probably a better term than ‘continuing’ would be: the fortunes of the ‘great book’ of Holbein’s drawings suggest a disrupted journey. In royal hands in the mid-sixteenth century, it was in the collection of Lord Lumley by the 1580s. On his death, it passed to Henry, Prince of Wales, the ill-starred son of the first Stuart. It thus returned into royal ownership, only to be given away by Henry’s younger brother, Charles I. In the late 1620s, he was willing to part with it, in return for a ‘little St George’, which happened to be by Raphael. The fact that the king parted with a whole set of Holbein drawings for this one small image — now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. – perhaps helps us calibrate the distance in standing between the two artists, in the eye, at least, of one distinguished collector.

But the Holbein book was hardly thrown into the outer darkness: it passed into the hands of Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel, himself a respected and fashion-leading connoisseur. After the Restoration, the drawings were, as it were, repatriated, becoming part of the collection of Charles II. Even then, though, its adventures were not over for, it is said, in the early eighteenth century, it lay discarded until ‘re-found’ in 1727 in Kensington Palace. My suspicious mind does wonder whether this last episode may be one of those myths of loss which can accrue to objects later considered precious and which actually come to form part of their mystique. The claim of underrating can, on occasion, be used to justify a change in the status of the object and that certainly happened in this case: the book was dismantled and, under the guidance of George Vertue, the individual drawings mounted and displayed.

In 1675, it was said that ‘the book has long been a wanderer’ but perhaps its very travels helped it gain a reputation for its artist. The drawings are apparently mentioned in art treatises from c. 1630, soon after it had reach Arundel’s collection. And, certainly, the display presently at Windsor demonstrates that Holbein’s images were considered worthy of copying in the seventeenth century: for example, Robert White produced an engraving of Katherine of Aragon, inscribing it with the words ‘H. Holbein pinxit’. The stimulus to reproduction may, in part, have been the identity of the sitter, but the inscription also suggests that Hoblein’s name was considered known or worthy to be known.

Indeed, Holbein’s reputation could, at times, be a source of misattribution. George Vertue, whom we have already mentioned, painted a portrait of Edward VI in 1745, with the frame stating in gold letters ‘after Hans Holbein 1545′. The original, on display upstairs in Windsor (and on-line), is, in fact, no longer considered to be by Holbein; its present designation is either ‘Flemish School’ or ‘William Scrots’. In other words, the standing in which Hoblein came to be held left some of his contemporaries in the shadows.

What is the moral of this tale? Perhaps it is this: we may tend, at times, to imagine that our own tastes reflect those of our forefathers and assume that the celebration of Holbein in the Windsor exhibition and in earlier ones, like that at the National Portrait Gallery in 1994 (from which I have taken some of the information above) or the ‘Dynasties’ show at the Tate the following year, is the latest stage in unbroken interest, dating back to the artist’s own lifetime.  When we begin to realise that this is not quite so, we are liable to replace that ahistorical view with a narrative of the ‘re-discovery’ of the ‘Renaissance’, in which there is a path — not always easy but definitely visible — from forgetfulness to remembrance. But the information we have suggests something less linear and more interesting: a pattern of knowledge and ignorance across and within generations.  The vagaries of attention shift back and forth and can only with injustice to the subject be simplified into a ‘direction’. And, indeed, moments of low regard, as might be imputed to Charles I’s giving away of the ‘great book’, could actually spur others to a better appreciation.

Queues formed outside Windsor Castle as 800 delegates packed the nearby Windsor Parish Church for the annual G12 Europe Conference held from the 30 October to 1 November.

More than 300 people who tried to sign up online at the last minute were unable to register for the church conference which was sold out.

Buckingham Palace sent a letter of thanks for prayers for the Queen at the conference after Pastor Wes Richards of King’s Church International, who are hosting the event, had written to the Queen. The theme of the conference is a ‘Royal Generation’ based on 1 Peter 2:9.

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