After breakfast we walked to Windsor Castle to pick up our pre-booked free-return visit tickets. We had a mini panic when we arrived at the desk. Mr C should have received a confirmation email with a booking reference to enable us to collect the tickets but this had not arrived. Thankfully the lady on the desk for pre-booked tickets was able to track our order down via the £2 fee that we had paid for making the booking on line in advance.
We chose to visit St Georges Chapel first as this was one of our main priorities to see because it wasn’t fully open on our previous visit. There was only a small queue which less than 5 minutes to enter the chapel. It was easy to enjoy the chapel and see its many features. We were able to pay our respects to Queen Elizabeth II as we passed the King George VI Memorial Chapel, her final resting place. It was humbling to see the newly marked ledger stone with both hers and Prince Philip’s inscriptions beneath those of her father, George VI, and mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Now the family are together again resting in peace.
The sun shining through the stained glass windows lit the chapel in a spectacular way, the Quire was positively twinkling with light and energy, displaying all that was on offer. It was an uplifting experience leaving me with a sense of joy and wonder as I left the chapel.
Next we entered Windsor Castle and lingered in our favourite rooms. We were also able to enjoy the Castle view of The Long Walk and relive our experience of walking it the previous day.
We joined the queue for lunch in the Undercroft Café which was just as busy and chaotic as it was on our previous visit. But thankfully this time I didn’t have someone standing so close they were physically touching me. There was a lovely couple in front of us who we got chatting to as we waited to be able to pick up our chosen food options. The sandwich section was a bit thin on the ground (awaiting restocking) so we opted for cake instead.
After lunch we thought we might visit St George’s Chapel again but the queue had turned into a long winding snake with 40 minutes wait to enter the chapel. We decided to drive to Maidenhead instead in order to visit the Heritage Museum. When we arrived we found that it was closed on Mondays. Silly us for not checking the opening times! Not to be deterred we decided to return to Boulters Lock and Ray Mill Island which we enjoyed on our previous visit to Windsor. Approaching it from the the opposite direction we briefly found the wrong car park and had an altercation with a picnic table that had been placed in an unexpected area of the car park.
At the island I hinted that perhaps we might like to go to the café for an ice cream. Remembering how delicious it was on our previous visit, I chose wild cherry. Rays Mill Island was every bit as delightful as I remembered it. I had the privilege of seeing a Kingfisher sitting on a post, but he was gone in a flash of blue before I could even consider a photograph.
We returned to the hotel to find that our room had been serviced. We had been told that rooms were currently only being serviced on request and we hadn’t requested a service due to a poor experience on our previous visit.
Later we dined in Al Fassia, a Moroccan Restaurant. The restaurant manager was very welcoming and after my first choice of dish was not available, helped us to choose our main courses. We shared the restaurant with a lovely group of ladies who it turned out were there for a birthday celebration; their lovely girly giggles were so joyful to hear.
We returned to the hotel via Wetherspoons. After we had settled in our chosen seat we had to move due to a large group choosing to sit on a small table next to us with one of the group placing his chair back leaning on Mr C and jostling him continually! We headed back to the hotel the long way round because of a diversion due to roadworks.
