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Published: September 17th 2009
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Hello all! And thanks for continuing to read our blog. Sorry for the delays its just been a bit hectic and coming back from busy days its not that easy to recount experiences when you're tired ha ha!
We awoke the earliest for Day 4, at 6:25am and started getting ready for our tour of the day. We went downstairs for our continental breakfast and ate up quickly as our tour bus was coming to pick us up from the hotel at 8am. When the bus arrived, we gave our tickets and sat and relaxed as the bus hit a few more hotels to pick up fellow travelers until it reached our bus destination of Victoria coach station. From there we had to change buses to find our one that we would be on for the day visiting the areas of England that we wished!
Our bus for Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge was leaving from Gate 2 so we got into the queue for that one. While Dad was in line I decided to use the washroom at the station since the Coach didn't have one on board and I paid 20p to use the facilities at the
station. Hey at least they were clean! Once I got back Dad was just boarding the new bus and we got in, sat down and got comfy for the long journey ahead. We were just about to embark when I asked to see Dad's camera which was in his day bag. He said some expletives and remembered he left it on the last bus. Cut to me running around Victoria Stn as quickly as possible trying to find our original bus to grab his bag which had his camera in it, passport and other important documents! Luckily I found it and we began our bus journey of the day. Oh and I should mention the day was beautiful! Thank goodness that nasty rain went away.
We began our tour with guide Trevor and driver Derek. Luckily both men were quite funny albeit a bit posh as well. We first were driving West of London towards the city of Windsor to see the castle of the same name. It would be our second visit of an official residence of her majesty the Queen. Windsor was quite beautiful and slower than London, having that big of English countryside charm. The station
we got out at was gorgeous and converted into a shopping mall. From there we walked to the castle which is in the middle of the city! Not very pushed back at all. We entered the Castle and began walking the gorgeous grounds which are apparently the favorite of the Queen's 3 castles.
We got to see the Queen's staterooms as well which were fantastic. As well as Princess Mary's doll house collection. Beautiful rooms and I must say they reminded me of the Palace of Versailles (in Paris) a bit. I snuck some sneaky photos in the castle which I'm happy about! We got to look around for 2 hours time and went back to the bus not long after en route to our next destination.
The City of Bath is somewhere I'd always wanted to visit so I was dead excited that we had the opportunity to see it on this tour. It was another 1hr 30 mins to the city so we got comfy and looked out at the English countryside around us.
Upon arriving at Bath all you could see where the beautiful stone Georgian aged buildings all in their honey-yellow colors. The
buildings were all built around the same time, and were made to look like large palaces connected but were of course just townhouses and flats. We got out at the Bath Abbey which is a gorgeous old cathedral and from there went to The Spas. The Spas are the main attraction in the city and are from thousands of years ago when the Romans occupied the city. It was here where the hot springs were so they developed a plumbing system to make a Spa where they would gossip and wash their troubles away. The age of this place was staggering and it was really nice to see.
From the spa we had some time on our own so Dad and I walked around the city and it was really gorgeous. One of those places that every corner is a good photograph. We walked towards Puletney Bridge which I had been dying to see as it is not only really amazing to look at, but is also modeled after a bridge that I saw in Italy. Of course it did not disappoint and we got some great photos from the bridge and from surrounding areas. We had a quick
snack and headed back to the neighboorhood where we were dropped off and sat on a bench watching the passerby's. There was this funny street entertainer who kept singing "Don't worry, about a thing because every little thing, 'gon be all right." He was actually quite good but seemed to only know that part of the song and repeated it umpteen times. We went back to the bus at the right time and departed for our last attraction of the day; Stonehenge.
Stonehenge is located essentially in the middle of nowhere within the Salisbury plains which is actually where the English army trains and we saw lots of helicopters and armed guards practicing within the vicinity. Before you know it, there it was; Stonehenge. Definitely the oldest thing I have ever seen in Europe and dates back to 2500BC!! It was so odd to see, and still they do not have any answers of what it was used for, whether is was a scientific or religious monument and etc.
The tour was fantastic and gave a great overview of other things outside of London and I'm glad we did it.
After we arrived back in London we
had a quick stroll along Oxford Street and then went back to our area of Queensway where we went out for a late dinner at La Cabanas; a mediteranean restaurant and it was quite nice. I actually met two french girls at the table next to us and I worked as interpreter to them as they spoke no english! Really funny but they were nice about it.
After that long day we went back to the hotel and got comfy for the night.
Talk to you all later and we start Day 5 coming soon.
David
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guess i'm not going to bed now
will have to read this before hitting my pillow!!!!