Traveling with kids is the best! Especially our kids. They're constantly forgetting things, loosing things, wandering into places they shouldn't, and most of the time that leads to some of the most memorable times of the trip.
We met Robert the Guard when Ella realized that she'd left her hat in one of the MANY rooms of Windsor Castle.
"I had it in the room with the secret dragon painting." Ella told Robert. He looked grim. "That leaves 32 rooms for it to be lost in," he pronounced grimly. We weren't getting the hat back. Ella started to describe the hat "It's grey, and kind of pointy, with a brim."
"It's a grey fedora," I said.
Robert must have a thing for fedoras. He decided it was worth it to ask around while we waited. No luck. After chatting for a while we left with instructions to come back later and see if it had turned up.
A few minutes later Robert ran calling after us in the rain. Someone radioed to him that they had the hat. As we waited for it to make it's way to us, Robert started telling stories. Being a guard at Windsor Castle is a pretty cool job. So many people have lived and worked there over the centuries. Just that morning he had found a spot that he'd heard existed, but wasn't sure. There's a mark carved into the stone wall where a giant of a guard was once posted. His fellow guards made it to show just how tall he really was. Robert took us down and showed us. Owen is pointing to it with his umbrella in the picture. The ground used to be higher in that spot. The guy wasn't eight feet tall, just so you know.
Evidently the castle is full of stories like this one. Secret dragons, haunted rooms, and historical tidbits. Lore for insiders. Maybe true, maybe not. We wouldn't know any of it if not for a fedora.
Kids break down barriers. Ours are getting really good at it.
The round mark - right there at the very top.
;)
He's our new favorite Music Man!
;)