London: Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge

Hello! It has been a few days since I last posted, but Jake and I are currently waiting at the Rome train station for our train to Naples. Unfortunately, there was a strike this morning so our train is now in 3 hours, but at least there is an internet connection and I can blog!

On our first day in London, we did a day trip sort of tour to visit some sites in the western part of England, such as Stonehenge. We knew we wanted to go, but in the planning stages of the trip, it seemed pretty difficult to get there, so we figured the bus trip was the way to go. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience and we were able to see some great sites. The only downside for us is that Jake and I like to take our time at the places we visit, so we did have to rush through the sites we visited to make it back to the bus on time.

After we left the London Victoria Coach Station, our first stop was Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is one of the Queen’s residences, and apparently it is her favorite, as she loves the beautiful gardens she has surrounding the castle. It is about 45 minutes outside of London as well, so I suppose it would offer a respite from some of the hubbub of London. Anyways, here are some of the pictures from the castle grounds.

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While we weren't able to take pictures inside, we loved looking at the State Apartments, which were lavishly decorated with a variety of art, sculpture, gifts from other countries, etc. We also were able to catch most of the Changing of the Guard ceremony, which was pretty neat to watch!

Before we left, we also went into the church where Henry VIII and several other former kings and queens were buried.

After our stop here, we hopped back on the bus to drive through the English countryside to the town of Bath. We even passed through a field of solar panels! Love it!

One of the fanciest and most famous areas in Bath is the Royal Crescent, which is a circle drive with 30 houses that are all right up next to each other to form a large circle. They look beautiful, but they come with a price, roughly 5 million pounds, or $7.5 million USD. Wow!

Here is a close-up on the houses.

In Bath, we visited the Roman Baths, but also saw a beautiful cathedral while we were there!

The town is named Bath after the famous Roman Baths that were created there. When the Roman empire was expanding, they discovered a large supply of these magical fresh waters in the area that were rich in a variety of minerals, so they built up a large system of aqueducts and baths to enjoy and spread to other parts of the empire. The Roman Bath we visited is preserved to feel just like it would have felt, roughly 2000 years ago! The green color comes from some algae though haha.

It was common for the Romans to throw coins into the baths to make wishes, but sometimes they would even write out messages wishing harm upon their enemies into the baths, hoping they would come true. Here is one of the messages they found.

These are some of the coins they found in the baths over time.

Finally, it was time to head to Stonehenge, what we were waiting for! The drive through the countryside to get to Stonehenge was also very beautiful!

Our tour guide also pointed out this white horse carved into the side of some mountains. It is called the Westbury White Horse.

And then we arrived at Stonehenge! If you have already seen our UK Video, you might have noticed that we put the Stonehenge pictures with part of the Stonehenge song by Ylvis. We really enjoyed visiting Stonehenge and it does seem pretty incredible about how it came to be.

Our first jumping photo together on the trip…and actually the suggestion of the person taking the picture!

Lastly, they had an exhibit about how the people of the area would have lived while Stonehenge was being constructed/assembled, which was pretty interesting.

After Stonehenge, we headed back to the London to conclude our day! Thanks for reading!