It's time to take a Bath!

Are you still with me? There is a lot more to go.

We had a full day ahead of us on Monday. We were going to Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge. This was a planned excursion we booked through Evan Evans Tour Company.

We were being picked up by bus at 7:55 a.m. from our hotel lobby. So we headed down about 7:45 and waited. And waited. And waited. We took comfort in the fact that there were 5 other people waiting with us. The concierge was on it though and kept calling them and giving us updates. There was traffic, but they were on the way. They finally arrived at 8:30 and we were off. Well not really. They didn’t mention that they were bringing us to a central bus depot to get the tour bus we were actually taking for the day.

A side note. Again, for all my research I never really looked at the logistics of this trip, like how far Bath really was from London (97 miles). I just knew we wanted to go to Bath and Stonehenge, Windsor Castle was an added plus. So our timetable for the day went like this:

9:00 am          Leave London

10:00 am       Arrive Windsor Castle

Noon               Leave Windsor Castle

2:00 pm         Arrive Bath

3:15 pm         Leave Bath

4:15 pm         Arrive Stonehenge

5:00 pm         Leave Stonehenge

7:15 pm         Arrive London

So we are finally off with Norma as our tour guide for the day. First stop Windsor Castle. We arrived at 10:00 am but by the time we got our tickets and went through security it was more like 10:30. We were firmly told the bus leaves at noon AND to make sure we get lunch somewhere (for the bus ride) here because this was the only opportunity for food. Not a lot of time for Windsor Castle.

We got our audio headsets and off we went. We had to sprint through the castle to get it all in, not fully listening to the audio commentary.  It was a beautiful castle though. I wish we had more time there and time to explore the actual town of Windsor.

Windsor Castle. Note the flag on the top. This flag means the Queen was in residence that day. If the British flag is flying, it indicates she is not in residence.

We left at noon on the dot to head to the city of Bath. The city was established by the Romans as a spa about 60 AD. They built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath, in the valley of the River Avon around hot springs. We got our admission tickets and into the “spa” we went.

Not quite like our spas today. The city of Bath was charming, what we were able to see of it. It was another, “wish we had a little more time to explore here” place.

Last stop of the day, Stonehenge. Norma gave us a little history about Stonehenge during the bus ride. Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England. It is one of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks. The mystery of it is that no one really knows how those massive stones got there. The weather there is always questionable and today was no different. We went from peeks of sunshine in Bath, to cold, windy and generally miserable at Stonehenge.

Arriving back in London we enjoyed some traditional pub food at this place. Headed back to the hotel and once again collapsed for the night.

 

Tomorrow is our last day in London, what will it bring?