Checking more off the list...

Wow, what an eventful past couple of weeks! Sorry I haven't had the chance to update sooner, but as I've been going along I'm keeping tabs on what I want to write about. It's quite the list after these three weeks. I'll start off with a bit about some classic London/England experiences, and maybe move on to the myriad other topics in subsequent posts.

So, a couple of weeks ago as a weekend day trip, a couple of friends and I went to Windsor, home of Windsor Castle and Eton College (famous as where Princes William and Harry went to college). Unfortunately, by the time we got around to visiting Eton College it was already closed, so I can't tell you much about it aside from "It looks interesting from the outside." (shrugs)

What did occupy most of our day however was Windsor Castle, which is one of the royal residences (sadly, the Queen was not in residence when we were there...). Among other things, Windsor Castle is the site of some important state ceremonies and home of the Knights of the Order of the Garter (more on them later). First off, this place is a legit castle...ramparts, towers, moat (no longer filled in, but a garden), etc. It's situated up on a steep hill and about 900 feet above sea level, so you could see any approaching armies a long way off. I asked a tour guide and apparently it was attacked once in the 1200s, but because it was so defensible, no one ever bothered again. The state rooms were absolutely magnificent though. I truly can't fathom the amount of work that must go into the ornamentations for each of those rooms. While the state rooms were wonderful (they didn't allow photography...sorry), the part I enjoyed most about Windsor Castle was learning about the Order of the Knights of the Garter.

A bit of backstory for you...the idea for the order arose from an awkward social situation. At some royal shindig, the Countess of Salisbury happened to lose her garter. Lest she be embarrassed, King Edward III picked it up and tied it around his own leg, which some people tried to poke fun at. He replied, "Shame on him who thinks evil of it" and vowed that he would make the garter the symbol of the highest honour in the land. Thus, the Order of the Garter was established in 1348. There are only 24 knights at a time, and they are selected by the Queen alone to serve for life. In order to be chosen as a knight, you must have done some great service to the State. The knights have regalia that they wear to all State functions, including a garter belt which bears the inscription above in Latin. Ok, two coolest things about the knights: 1) Upon becoming a knight, they are installed (literary, given a stall) in St. George's Chapel. Above each stall is the knight's coat of arms, their symbol, and a sword half-drawn (symbolizing that they're always ready to serve the Queen). Furthermore, within the stall is a plaque containing their coat of arms. When a knight dies, all of the above regalia is removed except the plaque...as such, there are 998 plaques still nailed to the various stalls in St. George's Chapel. 2) In St. George's Hall, in the castle proper, all along the walls and ceiling are the coat of arms of the 998 knights that there have been since the order's inception (we found Winston Churchill's!). Many of them have the same insignia (which we learned were honorary knights from outside the country, i.e. all the Japanese knights had the same coat of arms), but the best part is that some are purely white. This is to signify knights who committed some grave act of dishonour and were removed from knighthood. Rather than take their coat of arms down, they leave it up there blank as a reminder to everyone else of the wrong they've done.

Our night concluded by eating some cheese, crackers, and scones along the bank of the Thames as the sun set...picturesque :-).

My next major British attraction was Westminster Palace / Houses of Parliament. Again, no photography :-(, but it was really neat to see. If you've ever been to the Senate or House of Reps, it's very similar in that it looks much bigger on TV. Still, it was cool to be in the chambers that you only see on CSPAN and the like. The tour route followed the path that the Queen takes when opening Parliament for the year, and then through the rest of the important political spaces, with commentary on the political process and proceedings. In many ways, it was quite similar to our Congress set-up, minus a few details. What really struck me is that although many of the rooms were sooo ornately decorated, it was the first set of rooms decorated such that didn't seem a bit over-the-top. All of the decoration, paintings, etc. flowed so well together that the room felt like a proper whole.

Finally, this week's excursions into the various neighborhoods of London took me to Brick Lane, now one of my favorite places in all of London (because of the food...if you haven't figured this out yet, food is a major player in what I enjoy :-D ). Brick Lane is a Bangladeshi neighborhood, and as such is well known for it's curry. Curry is absolutely delightful. There are no better words to describe it, and I could sit here typing for many paragraphs and still not convey its deliciousness, suffice to say that I will be eating much more of it. My friends and I all enjoyed some pampardam (think like a tortilla chip, but about the size of a tortilla, and spicy...with chutneys), various curries (I had chicken damsak, which was spicy, sweet & sour, with lentils), rice, and nan bread (like a flatbread...good for sopping up extra curry ;-) ). It was absolutely wonderful! I recommend you all at least try curry someday. If you're really interested, I'll make some for you, because I'm probably going to learn some curry recipes on my return.

With your mouths watering, I leave you thus. Cheers everyone!