At Windsor Castle we saw the public parts of the royal residence, lots of armor, swords, rifles, etc. We also saw some extremely ornate solid silver tables that must have weighed a ton (literally)! Somebody probably has the full time job of keeping them polished. By looking through some doors with glass windows, we saw the workers restoring one of the large rooms which burned a couple years ago. Our entrance fees went partly to finance this restoration. As we were walking through one of the dining rooms, the lights went out (part of the construction mess they thought). In order to see the ornate carvings around the ceiling, I whipped out my little Maglite flashlight and focused on the decorations. One of the attendants immediately came over to me and I expected to be arrested as an Irish terrorist, or at least chastised. But she told me how smart it was for me to have brought along my electric torch to see the details!

Photo 1 shows Windsor Castle with the residence in the upper portion. St. Georges Chapel is the long building in the lower left.
To the left is a corner of the cricket grounds of Eaton where the royal children are at school.
To the right of St. George's Chapel (in the wall) are apartments given to retired high ranking military officers.

One of the guides told us about the Order of the Garter as this chapel is where the ceremonies take place. Families who are invested in the order have their coat of arms, flag, crown, sword, etc. mounted above the choir. Behind the choir stalls are hundreds of metal and wood plates with inscriptions of famous people. These form a uniquely random diffusion behind the choir (as if the chapel needed any help)! We noted when the services were and decided to come back to hear an Evensong.

Photo 2 shows St. George's Chapel, the choir stalls looking west. Banners, crests and helmets from Knights of the Garter are hanging above the choir.

Photo 3 shows the landscaping in the private garden below the great round tower.