A Trip to Windsor #3 :: The Changing of the Guard

Hi there everyone 😀

For today's post we are back in Windsor for more of our February trip ...

Tuesday was our first full day in Windsor and after the trauma of Storm Ciara over the weekend, we awoke to clear blue skies and sunshine ... which was a welcome surprise ...

Our primary objective for today was to see the Changing of the Guard. There was lots of information available in our Airbnb and on line about where and when the best views were to be had of the procession and we headed to the Victoria Barracks, just a few minutes from where we were staying, where we were hoping to catch the new guard heading out for the castle.

It was lovely and quiet though there was plenty of police presence, both of the friendly local chatty and the dressed in black and armed to gunnels types.

At 10.15 on the dot we heard the sound of the band striking up and had our cameras at the ready. Sadly for us it was the wrong time of year for the scarlet uniform though, whilst the grey greatcoats weren’t quite as striking, it was still pretty exciting to see them come out of the barracks and march off towards the castle ...

We couldn’t resist yomping along behind them, following them all the way to the castle, where we waited whilst the handover took place behind the castle gates.
We were both surprised at how big the castle is, even though we’ve seen it on the TV loads of times ... and how it pretty much is just there ... smack bang in the high street ...
And just in case you're wondering ... Yes, the above photo was taken at a different time. We had booked tickets to visit the castle later in the week and were hoping to see the actual changeover of the guard whilst we were there.
After about 20 minutes, with plenty of chatting with this very friendly chap ... who was more than happy to be shared on Facebook ...

... the band reappeared ...

 ... to escort the old guard back to barracks ...
I’m so glad we got to see it ... it’s hard to explain but it made us both feel quite proud.

It was then time to have a bit of a wander, find our bearings and somewhere for brunch.

We ended up in Cafe Rouge, an old favourite, in the old station, where crocques were the order of the day for both of us. Tasting all the better for being able to use our 'Meerkat  for 1' app ...

Rested and refreshed we carried on with our wander, wanting to see how far it was to walk to the foot bridge across the river to Eton as we were planning on exploring there the following day ...
As soon as I posted the next photo on Facebook a friend commented to recommend eating in the place next to the river so that was instantly added to the plan for the following day too ...
So that was it for our first day in Windsor ... it did not disappoint and we were both really looking forward to the rest of our stay ... and keeping everything crossed that the sunshine stayed with us 🤞🤞🤞

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