Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath!

On Saturday, Bobby and I took a day trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. We went through a tour company called Evan Evans that does trips all over the UK. The day started off pretty early, as we had to wake up at 6:30 to get to our 8 am bus. As you all know I'm not much of an early morning girl but it was great to see the sunrise over London from my 7th floor window! I probably won't be seeing it too often but it was beautiful! We got on a bus that took us to Victoria coach station where we got on with our tour group for the day. Our tour guide Sheila, was very interesting and entertaining to listen to, she gave us information on the areas we drove through as well as the sights we would be seeing before we got there.

Windsor Castle was our first stop, It is where the Queen resides on weekends and is her favorite residence. It took us about 40 minutes to get there from London. The castle is located in a beautiful little part of the town with lots of shops and restaurants. The security to get in was extremely high, much like going through an airport, but because we were with a group we were able to get in a bit faster. We had just over an hour to walk around the castle which was perfect for Bobby and I, who aren't really into listening to the full fledged audio tours. Because the Queen is still in Scotland, the State Apartments were open for touring. The architechture is absolutly beautiful and there is so much incredible artwork and murrels. We also walked through the display of Queen Mary's Doll House, a doll house about the size of my entire room. As a girl who loved dollhouses it was cool to see the extremely elaborate house that once belonged to Queen Mary. We then had time to walk around outside the castle where there are many towers as well as St. Georges Chapel. Here are a few pictures of the outside of the castle and the chapel...

Next the bus took us to Stonehenge which was about an hour and a half from the castle. Stonehenge is essentially in the middle of no where, but I enjoyed driving through the country to see all the scenery. After being in the city for the past three weeks, it was nice to see some green and open land! Around Stonehenge threre were sheep, cows, and open fields everywhere you looked. Stonehenge was really interesting to see and learn about. But really, its exactly what you would picture it to be! We were there for about 40 minutes which is plenty of time. It was really cool, but once you walk around it theres not too much else to see.

 The day ended in Bath, a city about an hour and a half from Stonehenge. Bath is the only place in the UK to have a natural hot water spring, so the Romans built Baths there thinking the hot water had healing powers and it became a place for the wealthy to be seen. Jane Austen lived in Bath and a few of her novels were set there. Bobby and I toured the ancient bath and stuck our hands in the healing water. At the end of the tour you can buy a glass of the hot spring water which is supposed to heal you. It tasted awful but I drank my whole glass so hopefully itll be worth it! After that we had some time to walk around the city. Bath is absolutly gorgeous. It is a beautiful little city but surrounded by country, which makes the scenery really wonderful. It is only about 30 miles from Wales so as we were driving out of the city we were able to see over to Wales. Here are some photos of beautiful Bath!

This is my second week of classes, already the reading is piling up! They expect you to do a lot more on your own here so each Professor gives a reading list of about 10 "suggested books" and a core text...lots and lots of reading! I will try to post again soon :)

♥