On Monday we got up early to catch a bus with Golden Tours to see a bit of England.
We first drove to Windsor Castle which is a royal residence and in Berkshire. The queen was apparently there when we had visited.
We were able to tour some rooms in the castle and we weren't allowed to take photographs.
Windsor Castle was built in the 11th century by William the Conqueror.
Jamie showing Juliette the arrow slits.
This is the south wing of the Upper Ward and the State apartments are to the left.
Our tour guide mentioned that this is the part of the castle that the Queen resides when she is here.
We got to see the changing of the guards in front of the castle.
This is the Lower Ward and St George's Chapel.
This is the parade after the changing of the guards.
We spent a hour and a half here and then got back on the bus to have a bagged lunch of a cheese sandwich, crisps (chips), banana, fruit bar and wine. We traveled a few hours to the city of...
Bath which is a city in southwest England about 97 miles west of London. This is Bath Abbey.
We decided to take a tour inside the famous Roman baths. The city became a spa for the early Romans when they discovered a natural spring with "healing powers". This is the terrace that is overlooking the "Great Bath". It is lined with statues from the 19th century. It originally had a roof covering it.
A view of the beautiful abbey.
On display there were many objects from the spring like Roman coins that we thrown into the sacred spring as offerings.
This is the spring overflow. You can see the plumbing and drainage system from the Roman times. This is not used in the bath but flows out to a drain. The great drain carries the spa water to the River Avon.
Great bath "pool". The bath is 1.6 meters deep.
Overlooking River Avon.
After Bath we were back on the bus to see...
Stonehenge!
We were able to walk around the stones. There are many speculations on what Stonehenge is and represents but many think it was a religious place for people of a place of healing or even a temple.
Stonehenge dates back to 3000 BC. Some of these stones have been traced to an area that they believe they came from that is 20 miles away from this site. The bluestone which are 2 to 5 tons each came from 250 km away. The largest sandstone weighs about 30 tons!
You can see a niche on the top of this stone where another stone would have been placed to "lock" it.
Stonehenge is literally surrounded by farm fields.
There were beautiful poppies everywhere.
We were back on the bus on the way back to London.
We ate at a fun restaurant named "Giraffe" where the kids dined on pasta and cheese and we had fish and chips. We then walked around London at night which was really beautiful. It had just rained and so the skies were still very cloudy as it was becoming dark. This is Westminster Abbey which is a burial place for famous poets such as Chaucer and Charles Dickens and tombs of many royalty. This is also where the coronations of royalty take place. I really wish we would have been able to tour it.
Big Ben which is not the tower or the clock but the name of the bell that tolls the tower. And an appropriate photo bomb of the many many red double decker buses that are all over London.
A look across the Thames to the London Eye.
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