Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Oxford

It's been a full day today.  Our coach left Victoria station at 8:45 headed to Windsor Castle.  We saw the Queen Mary doll house and the state rooms - totally fixed up following the fire in 1992 - very impressive including lots of Reubens and Van Dyck paintings of royalty, popes, painted ceilings, the massive dining room table etc.  Then 11:00 was the changing of the guard.
Changing of the Guard

Phil & Aunty Marion

Windsor Castle


Next stop - Stonehenge.  They take you way around now and into a huge new visitor centre and onto a shuttle bus to go up to the stones.  Haven't been able to walk around the stones for years but the scale is still massive.  It got a bit windy up there and we regretted our earlier optimism where we all struck out without sweaters!. We could see it from the highway as we headed back towards London - Phil suggested they should just put a road pullout there and make it all so much simpler.



Last stop - Oxford.  Not a university as we know it in Canada but a series of colleges where the top students each work with a tutor to set up a program.  The buildings were all very old.  We stopped at the Randolph hotel (Insp. Morse) and the Eagle and Child (drinking hole of Tolkien and T.S. Elliot) as well as hearing stories of martyred protestants and seeing their statue and visiting the courtyard of the Bodleian library (they get a copy of every book printed) - sssh!





3 comments:

  1. Looks like a great trip with much to see. I guess with Stonehenge if you want to get up to the stones you have to wait for the solstice and wear a robe while mumbling.

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  2. I can remember when we did park by the side of the road and walk right into the stones . . . before security issues . . . before they realized that they could make money from admission . . .

    Looks like you are covering a lot of ground on this trip. Wish I was there! Enjoy your stay in Yeovil.

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  3. did you get held up in london with the taxis

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