So first off, just to clarify - we are having a good time in London, it is just that Paris was better. © Secondly…let’s go through today…
We took a tour today and went to three locations: Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. We got up at the crack of dawn, and were supposed to meet our coach at Whitehall, but after a minor freak out of going to the wrong street named Whitehall (all too common in Boston), we met the tour guide and we got on a bus. We were then shipped off to Victoria station where approximately 200 people were divvied up among X number of buses and departed to their individual destinations. Our first stop was the Windsor Castle.
At Windsor, we took a tour of the castle and were able to take pics outside, but not in. We saw some beautiful rooms and some strange ones (who has a “lantern room?”), and lastly, Dave got very excited because we saw the changing of the guard in the courtyard!!! And it was the guys with the fuzzy hats, to boot - how excited was he? I think he almost peed his pants.
We then traveled to Stonehenge - now I know it seems weird that we spent a whole day doing this, but a side note: this is a HUGE country and takes a long time to travel. The first half of the day (or two/thirds) were spent going to Windsor and then to Stonehenge - and another note: the British love their audio guides (The Stonehenge one was pretty comical actually. “During this time, most of the men were farmers - MOOOOOO.” as they gave you real animal sounds to associate with being a farmer back in the 1600s.) Stonehenge was pretty cool - and Dave took enough pictures from every angle to make one of those 3D puzzles.
We then went to lunch - and by this time, it was about 3pm - and we were STARVING! We pulled into this little English town (very quintessential) and it was PACKED. The tour guide was ready to have an aneurysm because of the crowds and traffic, and the most hilarious part was that it was all attributed to a Scarecrow Festival - oh yes, you read right - Scarecrows everywhere!!! It was like Wizard-of-Oz cloned - kinda nuts. Dave also got his vital fish’n chips, which he enjoyed. I, on the other hand, got a rice roast - I’ll let your mind wander on that one.
Lastly, we were off to Bath, but because of the scarecrow infestation, we were late, and sadly, when we got there - most things were closed. The one store we did get into and buy more product in was the chocolate store - Thorntons. Yeah, we needed that. We were going to see the Roman Baths, but it was a bit too much money - so we just looked around the city. There was one really nice bartender that we went to visit in a pub that we went to ask where to buy a pint glass for Dave, and he not only gave us one - but gave us the bubble wrap for it too.
We arrived home and third time’s a charm - we got a seat at the Sherlock Holme’s pub where Dave “stole” another pint glass (well, the bartender told him just to walk out with it). Pretty funny. So that was our day.
Although London is fun, we still loved Paris and are now wanting to move there. Our vacation has been fun, but we are looking forward to seeing Packi again and eating in our home and sleeping in our own beds. See you soon!