We were up early for breakfast then walked to the Marriott Hotel in Kensington to wait for our Evan Evans Bus to pick us up for our tour. The bus took us to Victoria Station where we were split into the different tour groups – our “Tour 65” headed for Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Oxford.
Our tour guide, Hugh, gave us some commentary as we set out for Windsor Castle which was about 1½ hour drive out of London and out west into the countryside. We arrived at the Castle and admired its strong features. Our guide advised us to head straight for the State Apartments, with our audioguides. We saw the apartments which were very lavish and filled with beautiful paintings and fittings. We saw the area that was severely fire damaged in the 1990s but has since been restored and improved. We saw the room where the Queen Knights people. We then rushed off to St George's chapel where many of the Royal Family are buried, including the Queen's parents and sister. We couldn't see all of it properly as we had to rush back to our bus.
Another 1 ½ hour’s drive brought us to Stonehenge. We were blessed with the weather today. It was cool but sunny, so very pleasant, and we saw everything today in the best light. Stonehenge was very interesting, but smaller than I expected. I thought the stones would be much higher. The tourists obviously love it and it was fairly crowded. There are many theories about what Stonehenge is all about but no one really knows. It was great to see such an old man-made structure. At 5,000 years old, it is probably the oldest we've seen on our holiday.
Then we had another 1½ hour drive to Oxford where we had a walking tour of the main historic buildings of the university. We didn't go inside any but they were lovely from the outside. Hugh told us a bit about what student life would have been like here hundreds of years ago when the students didn't sit written exams but were interrogated by their examiners and judged by their skill in verbally arguing their case. We then had about 45 minutes “free time” to look around the town centre before reboarding our bus for the return to London. We saw some of the countryside, however, most of the roads have thick bushes beside them, presumably as noise barriers. The roads were all very clean and we have seen very little graffiti around and in London. There are always street sweepers out, manually or in little machines.
It was a very good day and great to see all that we did, though I felt it was all very rushed, which is the nature of that tour. Each of these tourist attractions would ideally be a day trip each really, but when time doesn't allow, it is a good compromise. We got back to Earl’s Court and had dinner at the Earl’s Court Tavern.
Our tour guide, Hugh, gave us some commentary as we set out for Windsor Castle which was about 1½ hour drive out of London and out west into the countryside. We arrived at the Castle and admired its strong features. Our guide advised us to head straight for the State Apartments, with our audioguides. We saw the apartments which were very lavish and filled with beautiful paintings and fittings. We saw the area that was severely fire damaged in the 1990s but has since been restored and improved. We saw the room where the Queen Knights people. We then rushed off to St George's chapel where many of the Royal Family are buried, including the Queen's parents and sister. We couldn't see all of it properly as we had to rush back to our bus.
Another 1 ½ hour’s drive brought us to Stonehenge. We were blessed with the weather today. It was cool but sunny, so very pleasant, and we saw everything today in the best light. Stonehenge was very interesting, but smaller than I expected. I thought the stones would be much higher. The tourists obviously love it and it was fairly crowded. There are many theories about what Stonehenge is all about but no one really knows. It was great to see such an old man-made structure. At 5,000 years old, it is probably the oldest we've seen on our holiday.
Then we had another 1½ hour drive to Oxford where we had a walking tour of the main historic buildings of the university. We didn't go inside any but they were lovely from the outside. Hugh told us a bit about what student life would have been like here hundreds of years ago when the students didn't sit written exams but were interrogated by their examiners and judged by their skill in verbally arguing their case. We then had about 45 minutes “free time” to look around the town centre before reboarding our bus for the return to London. We saw some of the countryside, however, most of the roads have thick bushes beside them, presumably as noise barriers. The roads were all very clean and we have seen very little graffiti around and in London. There are always street sweepers out, manually or in little machines.
It was a very good day and great to see all that we did, though I felt it was all very rushed, which is the nature of that tour. Each of these tourist attractions would ideally be a day trip each really, but when time doesn't allow, it is a good compromise. We got back to Earl’s Court and had dinner at the Earl’s Court Tavern.
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