Castles are real

Those castles you see in movies like “Harry Potter” and “Braveheart” – yeah, they exist.

Not only that, they have so much history behind them it’s gut-wrenching just thinking about how much time and money went into building these medieval wonders.

I’ll attempt to describe the feelings I felt when walking through a 484,000-square-foot, 900-year-old English castle, but to be honest, it’s a sight to see for yourself.

The outside of the castle consists of stone towers and walls lined with cannons and bells. The build quality and look of the outer castle alone told how much history went into protecting whatever was inside.

The walls were hundreds of feet high and just the sight of the castle could easily recreate a scene from the ages hundreds of years ago when it was erected.

Inside of the grounds there were stone abbey paths, a historic chapel containing the tombs of kings and their favorite wives, and a gift shop offering a variety of memorabilia like replicas of kings’ crowns.

The best part of all this was inside the castle.

It would be impossible to sum up the feeling one gets when looking at all the history and royalties, but if I absolutely had to, one way I can describe it is agonizing.

It’s painful to look up at the ceilings and see these absolutely gorgeous (think Sistine Chapel) paintings and wonder about the man who slaved over them for years, painting upside down on his back with the paint dripping into his eyes just for the Audience Chamber.

Of course this room happens to be right next to the Speaking Chamber, which is also just as intrinsic in quality and detail.

Along with the ceilings, the marble statues contain no flaws. The great halls contain so much gold and so many diamonds that it causes one to wonder just how royal the Kings and Queens needed to be.

The dining hall is lined with the shields of knights that betrayed their kingdom, and all were individually decorated with different crests – it was a sight to see in the football field-sized room.

And the paintings – they were incredible. They depict the fully gowned royal family with such detail that it is easy to say the clothes were fit for a king.

Scenes from the Bible of the battles in heaven and anguish of the angels were breathtaking.

As you can see, it was so much better than the movies.