August 23rd, A Day to Remember

WoW!!

It is hard to know where to begin this was such an amazing day.

We had breakfast at the hotel and as usual it was great. Then we gathered things together and headed for the Victoria Coach station. Because of yesterday’s experience we knew exactly where to go and what to do. Well we thought we did. They had changed our gate but fortunately it was only by one so we easily made a correction to our location. Again it was a premium tour. The guide was Carol and the driver was Tom.

Ken and I in front of our bus.

Tom is the one with the sun glasses, Carol has on the red vest.

 As the day progressed Ken became certain that Tom had been a Nas car driver in and earlier life. The roads are very narrow and the traffic is very heavy but Tom was an expert  at maneuvering  the  big bus into and out of little places.

Our first stop was Windsor Castle. We were so impressed. It was huge, much larger than we expected. I think we thought it was one building but actually it was a complex. We took a lot of pictures while on the grounds but we were not permitted to take pictures on the inside.

There is an entire community which exists because   of the castle. Either people work in the castle or they work in the service industry making certain that the tourists have all that they need. The state rooms were so grand and so opulent, that they defy description. We had only an hour  and a half to visit and we could have spent the entire day there. There were many people there but we got a bit of a jump on the crowds.  Ken kept commenting that there were too many people, and too little time

Our next stop was Bath. We were surprised that it was such a large community. It was crowded and there were tourists everywhere. There were many  many  shops and because of it being a tourist trap there was everything including street entertainers. The big points of interest were the actual Roman Baths and the Abbey at Bath. This was magnificent. So hard to believe how old it was and what a lot of history is here. I would have loved to hear the organ but there was no music today. This entire community is a Heritage site and the Georgian architecture made it feel as if you had stepped back in time. So special, and so different!

As we drove from Bath to Lacock, the spot where we were to eat, we passed through small villages several of which had houses with thatched roves.  They were lovely to see. Two of the villages had what they called a blind keep. Apparently these were lock ups where the local drunks were thrown if they became a problem. They were round and built in a way that afforded very little light. They were called Blind Keeps. That is where the expression Blind Drunk came from.

We dined at a place called Georges. The food was very good and the establishment was a medieval  inn. Because it was a heritage site all of the original building materials were still being used. This place was a delight.

The last stop was an hour and a half drive. We were headed for Stone Henge. The crowds were not as bad as I expected. The new  visitors center was over a mile away from the actual stones so I was very glad that there were shuttles to take us there. As was the case at Windsor Castle there were oral guides complete with earphones. As we progresses around there were numbers and  at  each stop you could listen to the professional commentary. As usual Ken and I were rushing to get back to the bus.

As all of the stops today we felt rushed and thought we could have spent an entire day there not just a few hours.

The return trip was a long 2 hour drive and we were exhausted by the time we got back to London. We had to walk from Victoria Station to the hotel and because it was almost dark we missed the turn and ended walking around a long block.

We did manage to stay awake long enough to eat but just barely.

 We left the hotel at 7:30am and returned at 9:00pm, so we were worn right out.

But what a wonderful day it has been.