I can't find my iCloud photos, nor delete them

[nousername123]

So I lost my phone (Apple product), and it's offline.
I will never get it back. The only Apple product I have now is my Macbook Air.
I cannot access those photos and videos they say I have stored on iCloud.
I can only access my email through iCloud.com, but not photos.
So I downloaded the iCloud app for Windows, and still nothing!
I am currently updating my Mac system to see if it will work on there.
It said something about "you need to have this update" to access your photos.

It's a big update, so in the meantime I am asking this question. What do I do?
And if I delete my entire iCloud account, will that delete the files they say I have?
Can you even delete the account, or is that a bad idea?
Can I get a new iPhone and then get access to the photos?

 

[cruisin]

Deleting the account will delete the photos, they are part of the account. You can get your photos on a iOS device (phone/tablet/iPod) or you can use iPhoto or Photos on a Mac.