It was Mr C’s special day so we did a little bit of what he fancied which meant that after breakfast we started the day with ‘The Long Walk’. The weather was warm but the sun had not yet broken through the clouds, a perfect time of day for walking. As we set off on the walk it was odd to hear the roar of jet planes as they approached the runway at Heathrow and not be able to see them until they emerged from the clouds. The deer in Windsor Great Park were shy and elusive, unlike our previous visit when they crossed the pathway near to me. As we walked back someone noticed the herd in the distance.

Back in town after our walk of almost five miles, Mr C had hoped to have lunch in The Pancake House but there was a 40 minute wait for food. Mr C chose not to wait so we went in search of another suitable eatery nearby. We settled on Heidi’s Bakery which had lots of tempting treats on offer. Mr C chose a quiche, this option also caught my eye but the call of a blueberry and frangipane tart was too much for me to resist. It was delicious! Whilst eating we heard loud roaring and then were visited by a dinosaur that had a few kids in tow.

Next we visited the Brooke Taverner store, one of Mr C’s favourite places for clothes, especially shirts. He came away with a few purchases. We browsed around Waterstones where I purchased a facsimile copy of a book on English Cathedrals that was written in 1934. The book is charming and delightful with its insight into history.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped off at Wetherspoon’s where I enjoyed chilling out on the terrace with a glass of rose wine.

Later we had an aperitif in the hotel bar before dining in A La Russe which was every bit as good it was on our previous visits. After dining, we returned to the George Inn for one last nightcap before retiring to our room for the night.

Our return visit to Windsor took place a week later than we had originally planned. Our plan was to revisit Windsor Castle, in particular St George’s Hall and St George’s Chapel, which was not fully open on our previous visit. The castle had only reopened a few days before our planned visit date following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II so we thought it might be busy that weekend.

Our journey to Windsor was accompanied by sunshine and mostly ran smoothly apart from a congested portion on the M40 which because of the queues, led to us missing Cherwell Valley services for lunch. We stopped at Oxford Services where neither of us were enamored by the lunch options. Eventually I opted for a sandwich from Waitrose and Mr C chose a KFC burger.  Modern life with on screen food ordering really isn’t for me. I like to get up close to the counter and see what is on offer without having to scroll through screens. The place was heaving and we were glad to get away from it.

Due to it being Saturday we found the road into Windsor was congested. The congestion was particularly bad  when we arrived at the car park which is next to Windsor and Eton Riverside station. This was where our hotel has reserved spaces that are pre-bookable. Cars were parked all over the place making it difficult to manoeuvre in and out of the car park. I got out of the car to do a recce and established there were plenty of spaces in the hotel’s reserved spaces for which we had pre-booked a ticket for the duration of our stay. We  had to be patient and wait in the queue until we got to the appropriate section of the car park.

Safely parked we checked in at the hotel, then walked back to the car to collect our luggage. The car park was still chaotic and I had difficulty manoeuvring my wheeled case between the narrow spaces between both parked and moving cars. I breathed a sigh of relief as I left the car park and stepped into a side road to let a car exiting the car park pass by me. The car driver drove towards me so I decided to move further to one side but the car driver tried to park her car in the space where I was standing causing me to leap into the only space left for me which meant hastily lugging my wheeled case up a curb to get out of her way.

Luggage safely in the room we opted not to go on the Long Walk as originally planned because we didn’t think there was enough time to enjoy it properly. We opted for a walk along the river instead which involved ice cream and a drink before a leisurely stroll ‘there and back’ along the River Thames starting at Eton Bridge.

Once back at the hotel we claimed our free drink which we enjoyed at our leisure, sitting outside on the hotel terrace before freshening up for dinner. We dined in A la Russe where I chose halibut steak followed by lemon sorbet, oranges, amaretto, and amoretti biscuit crumbs.

The place was buzzing and the food was every bit a delicious as it had been on our previous visit there. After each course we were asked if we had enjoyed it to which Mr C quipped as his (empty) plate was taken away, ‘As you can see it was awful’. At the end of the evening after paying the bill we were offered a complimentary glass of Limoncello, it would have been rude not to accept the offer. When it arrived the proprietress told Mr C that ‘it would be awful’ and as we left (with a twinkle in her eye) she wished us ‘an awful weekend’. Much laughter was had by all.

After a good night’s sleep we were treated to a river view in the hotel’s dining room whilst we enjoyed our breakfast selected from the hot and cold options on offer. We then walked over the Windsor bridge into Eton looking for suitable places for evening meals.

Our recce complete, we made our way to Windsor Castle where we had pre-booked tickets for a visit. We knew that our bags would be checked but weren’t expecting a full airport style scan. This caught Mr C off guard, especially when he realised that his multi-tool knife might fall outside of what was allowed through. He had been expecting to have to leave his bag in a locker before entering the grounds, but this turned out not to be the case. He declared the multi-tool knife and just to be on the safe side, the lady checking us through security put it in a bag and gave Mr C a ticket to retrieve it when we left the castle grounds.

Just after we entered the castle grounds, we realised that the ‘Changing of the Guard’ ceremony was about to take place. We hurried to the parade ground to see the Coldstream Guards stand down and be replaced by the Ghurkas. We didn’t have a prime spot for capturing photos but it was a great experience.

Next we entered Windsor Castle to see the rooms and State Apartments. Mr C lingered a while in St George’s Hall where he particularly enjoyed the Coats of Arms displayed on the ceiling. After our tour of the castle it was time for lunch in the Undercroft Café. There was a queue, where unfortunately the man behind me was crowding  me out so closely that he was physically touching me. How rude!! When we arrived at the serving area I stepped aside for Mr C to order our food and choices. The same man, by getting too close, caused Mr C to step aside. The pushy man tried to make an order only to be told to step aside so that Mr C could place his order first. The café was rather full with no tables free but luckily we were able to share a table with other diners.

After lunch we made our way to see Queen Mary’s Dolls House where, much to our surprise we found there wasn’t a queue. The detail of the miniature items within the house is amazing.

Before leaving the castle (and picking up the contraband item) we visited St Georges Chapel, finding that its history wasn’t shown off to its best advantage.

It was too early to return to the hotel so we returned to Eton and attempted to follow The Eton Walkway, a short two mile walk. At one point the directions were confusing, leading us to miss out at least one of the points of interest.

We dined in a lovely French style Bistro, A La Russe where I learned that service à la russe (service in the Russian style) a manner of dining that involves courses being brought to the table sequentially, and the food being portioned on the plate by the waiter (usually at a sideboard in the dining room) before being given to the diner.

This is different from the older service à la française (French: [sɛʁvis a la fʁɑ̃sɛz]; “service in the French style”) in which all the food (or at least several courses) is brought out simultaneously, in an impressive display of tureens and serving dishes, and the diners put it on their plates themselves.*

After dining Mr C made his way to a pub. On my walk there I was heckled by a couple as I walked past them. I chose to ignore them and as I walked on by I heard them shouting ‘Oi Doris’ to me. I carried on walking and didn’t look back. The chosen pub turned out to be rather dodgy, with substandard wine.

On our way back to the hotel we lingered on Windsor bridge enjoying the views. We had a short (friendly) encounter with a slightly tipsy man who engaged us in conversation.  Eventually we were able to make our excuses and return to our hotel. The slightly tipsy man was last seen walking towards two ladies that were also on the bridge.

*Info from Wikipedia