Where to see and follow the royals: from Buckingham Palace (and Highgrove) to Belize

Buckingham Palace. London. England. UK.

Windsor Castle. Crowning Windosor's central mound. 

The top of the Round Tower is glimpsed from the M4 motorway as you drive from London to Wales.

Best seen close up, walking up the surrounding street past the souvenir shops.

Eton mess, meringue dessert (with strawberries in summer). From a traditional English pub. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Which royal places can you easily see from outside?

In The UK

Buckingham Palace. Take the London underground to Hyde Park Corner (or Green Park - a short walk away) See the outside. In summer you can visit the inside. Or take an open top bus tour in good weather and stop off at the Palace.

Windsor Castle.

Drive to Windsor, or do as we did and drive to twin town Eton where we found it easier to park, and walk across the bridge. Whilst in Eton, we stopped at the pub next to the bridge and ate Eton Mess, a crushed meringue mixture. (After having tried Eton Mess in Eton, where it was not much different or better than elsewhere, I was happy to take the opportunity to try Eton mess in other traditional olde worlde pub around England.)

Or take a train ride to Windsor station. Or book a day trip from London to Windsor.

Like other travellers, the royals enjoy travels. Kate and William went to former British colonies which still have Commonwealth or other connections, speaking English and driving on the same side of the road and drinking Guinness, in Central America (Belize) and then on to the Caribbean.

Royal Tours

Belize

See the coral reef and the blue hole. 

Useful Websites

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10678911/Prince-Charles-pictured-showing-tour-guides-Highgrove-Gardens.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highgrove_House

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_royal_residences

Royal Wedding Countdown - what to wear and eat, British style, out or at home

Windsor and Eton with crown decoration. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

This is the street decoration for Christmas. You can bet there will be street decorations just as fine for a royal wedding. At the end of the street you can see Windsor Castle.

Problem
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wedding - what happens when? I don't want to miss any of it. Dress in your best to enjoy the day. What will you wear? The date is Saturday May 19 and in England we say, Ne'er cast a clout til may be out, meaning the sun may be out but it could still be chilly.

Answer
Windsor in Berkshire is expecting more than 100,000 people and if you go there security will be tight, so you may be stopped and searched or wait in line whilst others are checked. If you are not one of the 600 guests viewing the wedding in St George's Chapel, you could still see the carriage procession.

If you decide to go to Windsor before or after the event, you can see the wonderful castle which dominates Windsor and Eton which are two sides of the river.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, photo by Mark Jones in Wikipedia.

The Countdown
11.30 Sit down by the TV in a comfortable chair with a glass of Champagne, Cava or Prosecco, or something British such as cider, Scotch whisky, or an English white wine from one of England's many vineyards such as Denbies or Nyetimber.

What To Eat - Main Course
What could you eat? Something British. If you are out in the street, get a takeaway, fish and chips.

My favourite pubs/ The Wetherspoon chain. Lots of choice of food and drink. Lots of bargains.

My second choice? A carvery.

At home for lunch or supper? How about roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Roast potatoes. Brussel sprouts.

Buy British
You should find something in Marks & Spencer, Tescos, Waitrose, Sainsbury's or Morrisons, all British. (Or, for cheaper prices, opt for Aldi, Lidl and sandwiches from Poundshop and Boots the chemist.

British Desserts
At a pub in Eton, I ordered a dessert called Eton mess, which is broken up meringues (looks a mess but tastes declicious) with strawberries and cream.

For less sugar, more fruit, after your main course, order or make apple crumble with yellow custard.

Between Meals
Perhaps a healthy snack of an apple, a British apple, Cox's orange pippin.

At tea time you could have homemade scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam.

Timing
12 noon, the Ceremony starts. This should take about an hour.

The wedding reception will take place in Windsor Castle.

Later that day there's a sporting event, maybe involving the royals. At 5.30 it's kick off time for the FA (Football Association) cup finals. Prince William usually presents the prize, but it's not certain where he will be.

However, you can bet the pubs with TVs will be busy with screens turned on and special flags and bunting and special offers on drinks and food.

You can't wait until May? The couple will be visiting other places in the UK, notably on Friday April 6th 2018 in Bath, England, at the trials for the Invictus games in Sydney Australia. HRH Prince Harry is patron.

Invictus, you may recall, is a poem, one of my favourites. (More Invictus games in Sydney, Australia in October 2018.)

Booking a British Break
You have still time to book a flight to England, or postpone a trip from England to elsewhere, or come home early.

Angela Lansbury at a souvenir shop in Heathrow airport, London, England, UK, standing behind a cutout of HM THe Queen. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

Useful Websites

https://www.visitbritainshop.com/world/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnfLVBRCxARIsAPvl82GP69PmU8JypOxaHH_UHQUjjtuE47vI1wGfGlU2pqkIdYBrRy3OpLgaAvT5EALw_wcB

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5558081/30million-ring-steel-protect-Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markles-wedding.html

https://www.invictusgames2018.org (Sydney, Australia.)

https://www.teambath.com/2018/03/28/invictus-games-trials/ (Bath, England.)

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Eton Vintners - wine tastings and unusual wines

Problem
I was invited to Eton Vintners to taste Madeira. Madeira - what is it?

Answer

Madeira is a wine, but a strong wine. It is made on the island of Madeira. Why not. Try anything once. I went to the Madeira wine tasting at Eton Vintners. My family are on their mailing list for tastings.

Free Tasting
There is no charge for tastings, and you might take just a sip of one or two items and, if you liked nothing, move on. However, if you stay for an hour or more and sample a dozen or more wines including some which are old and expensive you may feel obliged to buy something.

Wines Stocked
If so, the shop has lots of stock. They have unusual wines. By the door, those under ten pounds. The rest of the shop divided clearly into regions such as Italy and New Zealand, or styles such as dessert wine and organic.

Seasonal Gifts
At this time of year there are seasonal gifts. You might like A British gin flavoured with raspberries. a hamper, a corkscrew, an apron, quails' eggs, chocolate truffles.

Parking
The sign on the door says that they have customer parking at the back. They must have a video monitor or a sixth sense or acute hearing because they hear you arrive in the car park and they open the back door to let you in.

Future Events
You can see the forthcoming tastings on their website. Alternatively, ask to be on their mailing list.

For more about Madeira wine and the island of Madeira see the next post.

Eton Vintners
31 St Leonard's Road
Windsor
SL4 3BP.
Tel: 01753 790188.
https://etonvintners.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other travel blog:
http://luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Caffe Nero, Eton and Windsor, England, for coffee and cake

Problem
Where to get coffee and cake in Windsor and Eton?

Answer
We dashed along the pedestrian street where Windsor and Eton meet - very confusingly one side of the river is called Windsor, the other Eton, but the whole area is Windsor - I spent ages on the internet trying to work out which branch I had been in.

We opted for Caffe Nero because it's a big chain we know and other places looked like restaurants and we were' sure they would serve only coffee and cake.

We managed to spot chairs which suited us, as somebody was leaving, so I parked myself in the chair whilst my husband went to line up for the order. I had told him I wanted a cake and no coffee. It's awkward that you cannot see a menu at the table, because if one of you sits down first to bag a table, through tiredness, or so as not to clutter the queue, the one left sitting down can't see the menu and food choices, as there's a barrier between you and the cake counter window.

I found afterwards you can see their menu on line. I have now registered for their system, which you need to see details and opt in for the wifi. It takes several minutes, creating passwords, choosing your birthday from spinning numbers and so on.

So I grabbed my bag, leaving my husband's unguarded and rushed to the counter to point at what I wanted, whilst looking over my shoulder to be sure nobody pinched his stuff on their way to the staircase.

I made a quick decision of the mincemeat tart which looked smaller and cheaper than the larger carrot cake, which in retrospect would have been a better choice.

My husband ordered the same for himself and was quite happy with it, and also had a coffee with cream. We added some of the cream from the coffee to the tart, which was still too sweet. Now I'm a lover of sweets. I drink sweet wines. However, I felt the tart was like a jam tart, rather than a filling mince pie, poor value, not nutritious. (I prefer the almond slice at Costa which at least give you protein in the nuts.)

If I were to go back, I would have the cake. A larger cake, divided into two so I got half, would be better value and more sustaining than one of two little tarts.

Afterwards I wondered what you can do to choose cakes when you are sitting down. If the queue is short, you can run up to the counter, in relays, so as not to lose your seat.

Order First?

In Singapore when there are long queues and a shortage of seats signs often tell you to get your food and then find a table. Because you can find lots of tables occupied by people who don't have food, whilst people with food are standing with a tray and nowhere to put it.

Coffee First, Cake later?

Even if you both order coffee and sit down, and later go back for cake, the same dilemma applies. You have to leave the seat with your half drunk coffee and your bags and coat. You have to phone each other or shout.

Online Menu?

I thought, well, I should have logged in earlier and seen the online menu. However, the mincemeat tart was not on the online menu. 

Send A Photo?

The alternative is for the person in the line for the food to take a picture and send it back to the person who is sitting down. Assuming you both have working phones.

Restarantants With Display Menus - Please Copy!

The Japanese and Chinese restaurants are better organised. They have either huge pictures of the food in panels around the room or over the counter, or a menu on every table, like at a Wetherspoons pub, so you can sit and choose and discuss and then send one person with everybody's order.

Where is the Caffè Nero which I visited? I found two branches in the area. The other branch is in the Windsor station.

 Caffe Nero

42 Peascod Street

Windsor SL4 IDE

Tel:+44 1753 620092

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
See my other blog :
www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Windsor and The Queen's Birthday

If, like me, you weren't invited to sit next to the queen and view the celebrations, you can catch up on what you missed.

What did you miss? Highlights of the glamour :
HM The Queen and Prince Philip.
Their sons and daughters and grandchildren.
Their son Charles' sons Harry and William with wife Kate.
Large numbers of horses.
A car painted with a Union Jack.
Performances by singers such as Kylie Minogue and Shirley Bassey.
Ant and Dec, presenters.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3591523/Long-rein-Prince-Phillip-goes-carriage-riding-checks-competition-ahead-Queen-s-90th-birthday-party.html#comments
http://www.people.com/article/queen-elizabeth-birthday-windsor-horse-show

Any time of year you can visit the lovely city of Windsor, dominated by the impressive
castle. If you can't visit the castle interior, enjoy photographing the castle exterior and the old station,  and see the souvenir shops, restaurants and pubs.

As a child I always wanted to see the Queen's dolls house but I never managed to do so. Either the castle was closed because royals were resident or it was too late. Never mind. I later saw all the dolls houses anybody could ever want to see at Bethnal Green Museum in London.

Meanwhile, back in Windsor, walk down to the bridge over the river and cross over (as I did once on New Year's Eve) and you will find yourself in Eton, famous for its school. When you have had enough of shopping streets, you can walk along the riverside, very pleasant in summer, and watch the boats and birds.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer,

Castle rebuilt and opened - New winery visit in Rioja, Spain

When I visited Rioja, Spain, I spent a week visiting wineries, starting with Lopez de Heredia, then La Rioja Alta and several others. We were unable to visit one of the wineries because it was being renovated. The good news is, now it's open again, after a grand rebuilding programme, restoring the castle, stone by stone.

Hurry!
Because the castle has been closed for over a year - is it more like three? - the tours are now booked up for the next three months. So, if you would like to visit the Rioja region of Northern Spain, either you must rush now to make a booking, or wait a long while until the backlog clears.

I met Pablo Gonzalez-Calvo of the Export Department who was visiting his buyers. The biggest surprise was that the grand r e s e r v a wines are not from the years specified by the region's wine governing body and imposed on the vineyard. The vineyard owners decide for themselves which is the best year for their crop, which year they will hold back or reserve the best wine to be aged in barrel and bottle, matured, mixed with other wines to get the perfect balance of flavour, aroma, and of course sold at a higher price because it is better wine, from the best year, and keeping it stored costs money and delay on profit from the investment. Pablo proudly says, "We decide!"

(Yes, I had to separate the letters of r e s e r v a because the English spell checker wants to turn the word to reserve. The r e s e r v a wines are of curse, reserved. Spanish is a lovely, easy, user-friendly language to learn. Just add or remove the a or o on a word and you can translate.)

What do you learn on a vineyard tour. On your first, second or third tour in your life, if you don't already know, you will learn that criantha is the basic or table wine and r e s e r v a is reserved and a grand reserved is even grander or more special. Each time you take a tour, one more fact goes into your brain and your understanding or wine making and wine labels increases, making buying a wine or choosing it in a restaurant has a greater chance of giving you what you enjoy and value for money. You can also spot a bargain, and, whether you like it or not, you will appreciate tasting or even just seeing something special or unusual.

At a tasting, you discover what you enjoy more. Either it is worthwhile, depending on your budget, to have the better wines whenever you can, or on special occasions, or when one is given away for free at a tasting. Alternatively you may decide some or all of the more expensive wines are not worth the money, so no need to hanker after them. You can then be confident that the cheaper wines are better value and quite good enough for you.

Eton Vintners
 I was invited to a tasting of his wines at a shop called Eton Vintners which is just around the corner from Windsor castle which we passed on the way home. (Windsor and Eton are adjacent. The bridge over the river Thames connects them. Windsor, famous for the castle where flags show if the royal family is resident, and Eton famous for the school.) If you are in England and plan to visit the area of Windsor, get on the Eton Vintners mailing list and go to one of the tastings. They have a discount scheme for regular buyers.

He had brought along several bottles for us to taste and told us all about each wine. We had some bread and cheese and a rather gristly salami to go with it. I and my teeth and tongue all preferred the bread and cheese.

The Marques de Murrieta Website
The website can be read in English, or Spanish. It has sections on the history, visits and buying wine.
I loved their description of the founder. I particularly liked the later quotation:

“To invite a person into your house is to take charge of his happiness as long as he is under your roof”.

Brillat-Savarin, French gastronome

A few translations:
Calvo - Spanish surname from the Middle Ages, originally meaning bald.
Crianza - basic or table wine which can be drunk young (pronounced criantha)
Gonzalez - Spanish surname meaning son of Gonzalo. Second most common surname in Spain after Garcia.
Marqués - Spanish for Marquis (not to be confused with the French word marque which means brand)
Pablo - Paul
r e s e r v a - reserve or reserved for ageing in the barrel and later longer in the bottle

More information on the wines and this new opportunity to taste and buy at the castle where you can do a tour from:
Marques de Murrieta
Estates and Wines
marquesdemurrieta.com
pazolbarrantes.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.