Day 6

We woke up early to go on a bus tour of Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge.  I left with another girl so that we could get coffee beforehand, but it turned out that we went to a different hotel than the one we were supposed to be picked up at.  The concierge at the wrong hotel walked us to the end of the block to direct us where to go and we ran there.  Once we arrived at the correct hotel, the tour bus hadn't arrived yet.  It was about a 45 minute trip out to Windsor Castle.  The bus parked in a parking lot outside some shops that were all very quite, but there were also chain stores.  Windsor Castle was set upon a hill above the streets and it is massive.  It seems as if it is its own little town-- there is even a church on site.  I walked outside in order to get to the entrance for the inside of the house and it was a remarkable view from the terrace.   The first exhibit that I saw was Queen Mary's Doll House.  It is a doll house that was made for her as a gift and all the best traders contributed in some way.  The rooms of the house were magnificently decorated and the maids all had their own rooms and bathrooms.  The king and queen each had their own bedrooms, wardrobe rooms, and bathrooms.  The dining room was set for 12 and had real silver plates.  I then went on a tour with the aide of an audio guide.  All the rooms were decorated with the finest material and huge portraits hung on the walls.  There was one room with the tallest ceilings and portraits of influential men in British history, such as Wellington who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.  Another room that was truly impressive was the living room.  There had been a fire in 1992 and the floors in that room were damaged.  To fix this, they took up all the floorboards and flipped them over.  The ceiling that was adorned in gold also had to be mended.