made4television: May 2011

Windsor Castle, or Where the Other Queen Lives

Windsor was our last castle on the grand tour of Paris and London. My favorite aspect of the tour was St. George's chapel, where Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, King George VI, and the Queen Mother are all buried . . . among other British monarchs. Wish that we had been able to take pictures, but alas . . .

Nevertheless, we saw the Queen's living quarters--at least from afar. She frequently comes to Windsor for the weekends, but was too overwhelmed from the Obama State Visit to come down this weekend. So sorry she missed us.

You know, the older monarchs (Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I, for example) kept dwarves as part of their retinue. I had hoped that we might move into the royal palace if I could affect an introduction between Her Majesty and Carl and Robert. Alas, it was not to be. Consequently, we will be home on Wednesday late.

The approach to Windsor Castle

Carl points out an interesting detail of the landscape. Robert looks interested.

Robert requested this picture to demonstrate his diminutive size to the Queen, should the opportunity to present itself.

Windsor is an impressive array of buildings.

The Entrance Gate to the Castle/Palace

Thereby, he demonstrated that the entire trip was tax deductible.

The inner fortress had a moat that was never filled. It has been transformed into an incredible garden. This picture simply cannot do it justice.

The view of the moat garden in the other direction.

A better view of the garden

St. George's Chapel. What an incredible historical place.

The ever-present flying buttresses of cathedrals.

A large picture to reveal some of the detail.

A long-shot of the entire edifice.

Queen Elizabeth II's apartments at Windsor Castle. The large windows closest to you are the family sitting room, where one of the museum docents told us the Queen has her television, on which she likes to watch the night time soaps like Coronation Street. The towers at the top house the bedroom she shares with the Duke of Edinburg. Carl asked why there were no windows facing the inner court. He explained that windows are on the other side overlooking the country side rather than the peasants that regularly tour the palace. He did note Carl's diminutive size--no doubt because he was so persistent in asking questions--and offered that it was too bad that Her Majesty wasn't in residence as her personal dwarf had met with a tragic accident the week prior to William and Catherine's wedding. It seems he was electrocuted because of a short in the royal telly.

The gargoyles at Windsor aren't nearly so scary as those we saw in France.

My only regret is that we had such beautiful weather in Paris and London that I never got to see the gargoyles do their thing (i.e., serve as drain spouts).

Although we did not get a picture of the Queen, as she was not in residence, we did manage to get this picture of the Windsor cat. Just look at that regal bearing.

You may remember her from your childhood:

Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?
I've been to London to visit the Queen.
Pussycat, pussycat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

In her new jacket-like thingy, Jordan was able to attract the attention of one of the guards. He asked her for a date, but she said she didn't date men who carried submachine guns.
She did ask for his hat, but he declined.

The London Eye

Because none of us has issues with heights (witness the pictures of Carl and Robert taken by Jordan at the top of St. Paul's), we decided it would be a great idea to ride the London Eye.

To give some sense of the height of the Eye, we took the following picture of Parliament and Big Ben from ground level before we started our assent.

Picture of the London Eye taken from its base. It is sooooo large, that you cannot get the entire thing in the frame.

Big Ben as we begin our assent.

Carl and Jay gripping the interior bar of the pod in which we were riding. We weren't nervous at all. Couldn't get Carl to look down once during the entire ride.

Big Ben and Parliament from about half way up.

Big Ben and Parliament from the top.

Big Ben on our descent.

Jordan's Cute Acquisition

Jordan found this cute belted navy blue cape-like jacket at a London clothing store called Primark. Jordan describes the store as a Forever 21 equivalent. At any rate, we all adore the outerwear that we bought for her--whatever you choose to call it. Here are a few pictures of her wearing it.

Jammin' and Waitin' for the Train

Banked by Roses

Preparing to Pretend to Pick Her Nose

Cuteness!

Make a Face for me Dear!

I have to tell you, I have seen some crowds on this trip, but nothing to compare with those we encountered in Primark. Without a doubt, that is the most crowded store I have ever been in--ever! Literally, you could not move without squeezing past other people . . . and this wasn't a small store. Two stories, each the size of a city block. Jordan also found some glasses. Too chic!

The King's Kitchens

One of our favorite things at Hampton Court was the tour of the kitchens, where folks were about the business of preparing food using the technology of the times.

These double arches were the entry point for all provisions for the palace. The kitchen staff was responsible for providing 600 meals per day when the king was in residence at Hampton Court.

This alleyway was the equivalent of a Tudor refrigerator. The tall walls with the narrow opening at the top meant that little sunlight penetrated to warm the rooms on either side. Fish and grain were stored here.

Although this looks like a mannequin, it is an actual human being. Evidently he was the supervisor of the fellow below. He didn't do anything but answer questions while we were in this room.

This fellow was transforming chunks of beef into the modern day equivalent of hamburger.

He explained that in the Tudor period (and even back to Rome), folks cooked the equivalent of the modern day hamburger--a term that wasn't created until relatively modern times. The Tudors and their predecessors called them . . . "sausages."

Fully 70% of the Tudor diet was meat. The fact that they could afford to be such carnivores illustrated their wealth . . . and if there was one thing that we learned about the Tudors, they loved to illustrate their wealth. They did so by their ability to heat every guest room and by being able to feed everyone meat.

Samples of the type of crockery used during the Tudor period.

This gentleman was making a porridge of wheat flower and water. When I asked what he was making, he pulled out an original recipe that was carved on a wooden plank. He explained that he would thicken this mixture and would add sugar and fruit--dates and plums--to create a dessert for the King.

Note that he is cooking over charcoal. The pot was originally sitting directly in the pit. As it began to boil, he pulled it out and set it close to the edge of the pit so that it continued to get indirect heat as it thickened.

These vegetables--onions, leeks, and cabbages--were real and were being used to create food in the kitchens.

This fellow was in charge of a special dessert for the king.

In this picture, I hope you can see that he is working on a crown. Just before we arrived at this station, someone explained how frequently the Tudors ate meat pies and why. The reason was that the cooks had to create bowls in which to cook the meat. The pastry of the bowls was not eaten in Tudor times, Rather, they knocked the top off the pie and scooped out and ate the meat and vegetables.

Consequently, we assumed that this was a bowl for the king. Turns out that this crown was made of Marzipan and covered with 24 carat gold dust. The king and queen would wear these crowns for pleasure during the meal and eat them later. I suppose you could say that these were the Tudor precursors to edible undergarments.

I wish I had an individual in this picture to give you a sense of the scale of this fireplace for roasting meat. A man can stand within this oven without bowing his head. This fire was the only one in the roasting room, though the guide explained that when the king was in residence, there were as many as six of these fires for roasting meat going at any given time in this particular room. We were standing across the room and felt quite hot from the blaze. Can't imagine the room with six of these fires going at once.

The room containing the pewter plate used by the king and his guests. All of these plates and mugs as well as every item of food was tallied as it left the kitchens for the great halls and as it was returned. The "leftovers" had to be tallied so that the chief clerk would know what food could be reused (transformed into another recipe) and what new provisions needed to be ordered.

Peacock was a delicacy at the Tudor court. Flannery would be appalled!!!

So I Lied . . .

In my last post I said that we didn't get many pictures of the Hampton Court Gardens. Well, truth is we didn't get many pictures of the formal gardens, but we did get pictures in the gardens as well as pictures of many of the flowers there. Here's a sampling.

A Falconry Demonstration

Lots of Foxglove in the vicinity of London

I have no idea what these flowers are, but thought them beautiful.

One of Henry VIII's wives out for a ride. They didn't say which wife and we didn't ask. The pompous guy in the front kept telling us to bow and "make way for the queen," to which I replied, "I have two with me, how about you making way."

Evidently Carl and Robert looked threatening, so this young escort de la Queen took a defensive posture. I don't know what they were doing, you have to watch them every minute.