Almost Friday

Well yesterday we had our field trip to Windsor, one of the residences of Her Majesty, who was not in residence at the time of our visit. There was a pretty serious security point on entry which the examination of bags and items if need by much like - though I would say less strenuous, perhaps because she was not present - the airport security checkpoints. In fact, one of the girls on our trip was held at security for a considerable length of time because she was in possession of a can of personal protection pepper spray styled mace - which is illegal here and considered a weapon not a protection device.  That is an important note for all future travelling students, because many women and particularly young girls in high school and college are encouraged at home to carry such personal protection measures in case of attack.  This is not the case here in England, where it is generally much safer - though not, it should be emphasised, completely without those incidents - and such items are considered weapons of potential aggression against others, not as defensive items.  Eventually, I assume once this difference was realised and her intentions for having it explained, the girl in question had her item confiscated and was allowed to go on into the castle with, I believe, a warning only.

We were not allowed to do much photographing of the interior of the castle nor of the attached chapel as there were a great many priceless tapestries and works of original art (such as the famous portrait of Henry VIII) as well as the delicate fabric wallpapers, etc.  Personally, I disagreed with the prohibition of photography in the chapel portion, as there was virtually nothing there that would have been damaged by flash photography that I could see - which, even though the lighting was sufficient in all areas not to use a flash anyway, is generally the reason photography is banned in certain places.  Non-flash photography or video recording really doesn't do anything to such treasures any more than gazing upon them does.  Prohibiting photos does give people a good reason to buy the books in the shops though, and as I understand things the Royal Family does fund many of its endeavours from the revenue of its collections and tourism and so forth.  I did make some purchases of books from the shop, knowing that this particular site was probably of the most interest to people back home and that they would be something good to show for souvenirs in years to come.

I am rather upset, however, to find - while on the website looking for some links to share with you all so that you might see some of what I have seen by their photos - that we all could have made our single ticket into a full year's pass just by having a staff member stamp if after we'd signed the backs.  I don't think anyone managed to do so, or I haven't heard that anyone did - and I certainly missed it completely as it wasn't called to our attention by anyone either.  It was, I see only now, brought up in the pamphlet we were given upon entry that I didn't really look at because its primary use seemed to be as a map, and we'd already been given one of those by our guide on the bus.  So I tucked it safely away in my bag as a keepsake rather than fingering it worn with reading.  Ah well, it is just a little bit annoying in the long run I guess.

So, for all future students who visit Windsor Castle, please note that you can make that one ticket (which CMRS will have for you and distribute on site) into a full year's pass to return to Windsor Castle any time during your semester here by signing the back and having a staff member stamp it on the day of your visit.  Otherwise, you will have to pay admission for a second visit should you desire one - as I likely will either when Bruno comes out to visit or when Claire (who was ill and missed the trip with great disappointment) gets better and wishes to go on a weekend upcoming.

Meanwhile, for those of you too far away to consider making a trip yourself, I encourage you to check out this link and just scroll down looking on the right side for a nice smattering of pictures taken from the various exhibits.  I did get a good bit of footage of the outside of the castle and snuck a quick shot of the dollhouse though I wasn't supposed to (with no flash, so no harm done really) which I will have up as soon as possible.  Windsor concluded our field trip program, so any future trips and the like are "on me" as it were and might be sporadic as funding and time allows.

Here also is the final segment of the trip to Wells footage: