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22 April 2013
Day three in London and we wake up to another day of sunshine. I doubt anyone will believe our luck with this weather in London. Still a bit cold for us Aussies though and we dress in layers for our big day. We take a tube and a bit of a walk to the Victoria Coach station where we are to meet our bus at 8am. Nathan and I hop on the big tour bus and are told of our adventures for the day. First stop Windosr Castle, next stop Stonehenge and then to the city of Bath.
Windsor castle is what you think of when you think of an old English castle. Its on top of a hill, with a great wall and a great garden. We are even more excited when we discover that the royal flag is flying which means the Queen is in fact inside the castle! Here we walk through certain sections of the castle and admire all of its beauty as well as marvel at the stories of its renovation after the fire of 1992. We don't however, catch a glimpse of the Queen but we do get to witness
a change of the Royal Guard which is perfect as we did not have time to see one at Buckingham palace. The castle was also great to explore as there were a lot less visitors then everywhere else in London, possibly due to the early morning trip. We are able to get up close to the fence as the change of guard takes place as well as explore without the usual hussle and bussle of lots of people. The little streets around Windsor castle are also very cute and worth a visit. We have lunch with our tour group at a resturant just outside the catsle walls. We get fish and chips, although I order the vegetarian pasta. Both meals were great and Nathan is a lot happier with this serving of fish and chips then he was with the last. We sit at a table with an American couple, who although loud were very friendly, however we were soon to find out that not all American tourist are like that.
Back on the bus and off to Stonehenge. Our tour guide was great and gave us loads of information on our travels as well as a little sleep
time. It was about a two hour drive. As we got nearer to Stonehenge, the famous circle of big rocks no-one really knows the full story about, we saw the weather starting to darken. Not the same dark as we get here at home that normally means hail and thunder and lightening are on there way, just darken to overcast. Our tour guide shows us mounds to the left and right of us and explains these are burial sites dating back to the Neolitheic period. These burrows are World Heritage sites and most have not been excavated.
Then the wonderous Stonehenge comes into view. It is odd that such a pile of rocks are so amazing but there is defiantly something about the site that opens your mind but is also possibly frightening because it is of the unkown. Archaeologists believe it was built between 3000BC and 2000BC making the site over 5000 years old. If thats not hard enough to comprehend there are remains burried at the site which are defiantly from 3000BC. The stones also align perfectly with the rising of the sun during the summer and winter solstice which brings to debate the significance it has
with the calendar. It is magical and thought provoking. Defiantly worth a visit so you can debate amongst yourselves how the stones got there, why they are there and who did it all. Another note on Stonehenge is the fact that its beauty is somewhat ruined by its close proximity to roads, however we were told that they are changing the roads and building a tram for access to Stonehenge in the near future. Also, bring an extra coat or two because that overcast day got pretty chilly pretty quickly once your out of the bus.
After leaving Stonehenge we journy forward to the city of Bath. It is here we learn about the ancient Roman Baths. The Baths were built by the Romans when they occupied Britian during the 2nd Century AD. When the Romans left Britain in the 5th Century the baths turned into ruins. For over 1000 years they remain buried until in 1880 they are rediscovered. The story goes that there was a leak in someones house and in turn they descovered old lead pipes used by the Romans for the Baths. The natural hot water spring is said to bring good health and you can still drink the water from the spring from the pump room which both Nathan and I did. The city is beautiful itself and the Roman Baths are full of history to discover.
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