London, England

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I get off the train after traveling from Paris via the English Channel. I have never been to London before, and I had to get familiar with the transit system, as well as using the British Pound as currency. Neither of these should be too difficult. I make my way to my hostel. It is near the train station which is very good for me. I have three separate tours for my stay here which is scheduled for four days. I arrive in the evening time, so after I find my hostel, check in, and take my things to my room, I set out on foot. There is a landmark that I saw a few years back on the reality show "The Amazing Race" that I really wanted to see and do. It was the London Eye. It has 32 sealed 'pod' capsules, fitting a total of 800 people, revolving on a huge Ferris wheel. One go-around takes half an hour to fully rotate, and you can see a great portion of London from being on it. Luckily for me, my hostel was near to hear, so I walked to it. I see it from a distance, and when I get close to it, you probably could not wipe the smile off of my face. I gazed for a few moments, and I walked past to see another beautiful sight and landmark, the Big Ben and Westminister Abby at night. The were both stunning and beautiful as they were lit up and the reflection came off of the Thames River. Amazing. I head back, for it is in the evening time, and I want to get up ready to go for my adventure tomorrow.
I awake the next morning ready for my first tour. Today I would visit Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. I was very eager to get started. I chose to have the bus pick me up close to my hostel, and I found the meeting spot yesterday evening while out walking. It was a very short walk from my hostel, so I got there with time to spare. After looking and finding the exact meeting point, I waited until someone came to retrieve the group. When my name was checked off, and I was onboard the bus, I was excited. We did have to go to another collection point at Victoria Station, unboard our bus, and board another bus, but this was not a big issue. Once the bus was on its way, we would be riding around 260 miles round trip. It made for a long day, but one that would be well worth it. First stop was Windsor Castle. We are given instructions from our tour guide (Nigel) as to how much time we will be able to spend in the castle and when and where to meet back at. Off I went. None of the Royal Family were there on this day. The way to tell is by which flag is flying. With the normal British flag flying, this meant none were there. I was able to tour around Windsor Castle, and then we met as a group for lunch at a local restaurant. The served us traditional Fish & Chips which was fish, fries, and green peas. This was actually pretty tasty, and I did not leave anything on my plate. Unfortunately, it was raining, so the changing of the guard was limited. Not the normal change, just basically march the guard out, and then replace the exiting guard with a new guard. I was a little bummed, but I can understand with the rain as to why it was a limited ceremony. We finished up here, and board the bus to our next destination which was Stonehenge.

I have saw pictures of this place since a little boy, and have wanted to physically view with my own eyes. It was quite a long ride, so I just sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the ride. All along the tour guide gave us many bits of fascinating history of different areas of London. It was enjoyable. We arrive to the road for Stonehenge, and the guide tells us we will be in one of the last groups to actually travel down the road that leads to Stonehenge. They are putting in a transit system, and actually tearing the roads up and planting grass to make it look like it was originally. We see the massive structure from afar, and my anticipation to get there rises. Once we unboard the bus, I could not wait to get as close as I could to the structure. We probably were able to stand about thirty yards or so from the stones at the closet point. We were able to walk around at our own pace. I took several photos, but I do not think they will do the actual sight the justice it deserves. In many instances, I stood astonished and amazed at how ever in the world the people that made this structure out in the middle of nowhere actually hauled the stones, and then placed them the way they did. I am still amazed, and probably always will be. After one last gaze back, I board the bus to go to my next destination, which was Bath.

We get to Bath, and it was just a very beautiful city on the outskirts of London. Bath was known for the Roman Baths. You could actually visit the thermal waters just as they were discovered many years ago. I walked up and down the busy streets that had many stores, street vendors, and just people. It was fun. Time to go back to London. I get back on the bus, and actually met some very interesting people during the drive back to London. Two older couples from the United States, and two Asutralian girls that have both just recently moved to London and were both nannies. Pretty entertaining stories they told about the families they worked for. The two were actually gracious enough to assist me and the other Americans get our tickets and find our way back on the transit. I was on the same train as the Americans, and at there stop, they bid me adieu, and I make my way back to my hostel. What a first full day. Tomorrow holds another wonderful tour with which I have much anticipation. I can't hang with the younger crowd, so I go up to my room and hit the sack. I must say that this is probably one of the worst beds, as far as location in room, I have ever had. I was in an eighteen bed room, and my bed was on he bottom right by the path to the shower room. I did not have much aisle space on either side of the bed. The locker would not hold my backpack, so I had to store it below my bed. Not a bad hostel, just unlucky as far as my bed positioning.

I received an email the night before that I would not be picked up at the same place in the morning time. There was a triathlon going on in London, and a lot of roads were closed. This day, I would be doing the full London tour. Not knowing exactly to where I was going, I leave quite early to arrive at my meeting point. Once getting off at the train station, I attempt to find my destination. After trusting people with directions and just "going to the left" I do find the correct address. I find the que and get in the line. As I am the first in line, I did not have anyone to ask if this was correct, however there was a sign with my tour number there, and I felt pretty confident. The tour guide came to retrieve us when it was time for the tour to start, and he (David) was an elder gentlemen, that come to find out throughout the day was well travelled and had been to over 100 countries working for BCC which is the British news. Very intelligent man concerning the history of London. We could not take the normal tour, for a lot of the roads were blocked, but actually I may have been able to see more of London than I would have if taking the normal tour. We visited Buckingham Palace, St. Pauls Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, The Tower of London, took a boat ride up the river Thames, and rode the London Eye as some of the major attractions. We saw much more, but these are the one's we got off the bus and stopped for. Actually, we only got to the gate of Buckingham Palace, because of the road closures. It looked spectacular from what I could see. Still amazing to be standing there. We were suppose to see the changing of the guard there as well, however this did not happen either. We did visit, and I went in to St. Paul's Cathedral. There was church service going on, and you could not take photos, but I stayed in the back and just gazed at the beauty. I did not pay for lunch for this tour, and the majority of the group went to a local restaurant to eat. I on the other hand went walking for the hour, saw some beautiful sights, and then joined back up with the group. We next went to the Tower of London. As we were in line there, the Tower Bridge actually went up to allow a boat through. How lucky I was to see this. Our time to go in. The Tower was the home to many past Kings, including King Henry the Eighth. He was a pretty shrewd King. He tortured many people including be-heading two of his six wives. We learned a little rhyme about his six wives. It goes as follows: Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. In the Tower of London we go to talk with a Beefeater, and he explained his role for the Queen. Beefeaters are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower and safeguarding the British Crown Jewels, but in practice they act as tour guides and are a tourist attraction in their own right. He explained to us about why the Tower keeps Ravens there, and told us overall what we could see inside the Tower. The group goes to the actual site of one of King Henry the Eighth's wife's beheading spot. It was wife number two Anne Boleyn. I then go in and view the Crown Jewels. I make my way to the Torture Chamber and see how some of the prisoners were tortured. The last place I go there was in the actual tower where there are many of the previous King's armor for themselves and their horses. There were also gifts given from different countries to the King's displayed here. Next, we travel to the loading point for the river boat that will take us on a ride up the Thames River. We start out, and it really is beautiful. I try to take photos, but there is just so much to see. We start at the Tower Bridge, go past London Bridge, and after many more sights we end at the London Eye.

It is at dusk now, and the last thing to do from this tour was to take a ride on the London Eye. I am very eager, as I have wanted to do this for quite some time now. We start the rotation, and the city just lights up. The higher you get, the more beautiful. The London Eye is the fourth-tallest structure in London, so the far-reaching views over London were spectacular. One word; Amazing. As the rain continued to come down the photos that I took will now truly show the beauty of what my eyes beheld. The rotation finished, and it was time to make my way back to my hostel. I was pretty tired, and I was happy that my hostel was very close.

New day starts in London. I have a tour on this afternoon, but I wanted to get more sightseeing in before this. I walk around a bit just looking at the beautiful sights near Westminister Abbey and the Big Ben area. After taking many photos, I make my way to the meeting point of my next tour. On this day, I was taking the Harry Potter tour at the Warner Brothers studio. I was pretty excited seeing I had just watched all of the movies over the last several months. I boarded my tour bus, and we were off to the studio. It was about an hour ride, but no worries, for I did some napping, and further sightseeing. We arrived and got our entrance time. This was the late tour, and my group was the last one to go in for the day. This gave us extended time in the main hall, as well as the other areas. I will not go into a lot of details here, and some of my photos are a little blurry, but this was a wonderful tour. It was neat to be at the place where parts of the movies were filmed.

It was late when we got back, so I packed up my things and retired for the night. I was leaving on my next journey in the morning time, and wanted to assure I woud be ready to go. What a wonderful four days, and a wonderful place to visit.

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