This time I flew in on Friday afternoon, took the Gatwick Express to Central London, got checked into our hotel and when CJ came "home" from work the adventure began.
On Saturday morning the tour company picked us up at our hotel really early and we went off to visit Windsor Castle.
It was a really neat place to see. It is pretty close to London, right next to the Heathrow Airport - in the flight path actually - which is funny since it is a functioning Royal residence, and when we were there the Queen happened to be at home! We knew that because the Royal Standard (the Queens personal flag) was flying above the Castle instead of the Union Jack. We also took pictures of the Royal cars parked in the courtyard...
Speaking of...Tourists can take all the pictures they want on the grounds but not inside the Castle due to the age and sensitivity of all the art, tapestries and furnishings, hence all the outdoor shots. As a sidenote, going through the state rooms reminded me of the Biltmore House, another one of my famous residence favorites. Here are some photos.
After touring Windsor we got back on the bus and headed to Stonehenge. The drive takes about an hour through picturesque English countryside...
My impressions of Stonehenge, other than awe at how old it is (about 5,000 years old) and that it was built so cleverly before any modern technolody was available, was that is was surprisingly SMALL! I've been expecting these overpowering and enormous stones, and while they are large, they are a lot smaller than what I had thought they would be all my life. The entire circle is fairly small too. I guess over the years of knowing about Stonehenge I had build up this expectaction of something larger than life, but it really was not that huge. Still it was a fantastic sight and we enjoyed going there.
More to come!
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