Excursions

Stonehenge

While in London, my companions and I took two excursions into western England to see the country-side and break up the city pace.  Both were bus tours: not my favorite mode of travel by far, but I can see the attraction: it's the easiest and cheapest way to see lots of sites without bustling for different train tickets and admissions yourself.  Even if I had to sit next to a Bangladeshi man that smelled like smoke and kept asking me stupid questions despite my obvious "I don't want to talk" body language (shoulders facing square out the bus window), it could've been much worse.

One of our guides, a bald Englishman named James, was top-notch.  His accent was melodic, his speech well-practiced, and he gave us interesting facts the whole way (for example: Her Majesty the Queen likes to drive herself to Winsor in her Range Rover every weekend).  Sadly, our second guide didn't have the expertise nor the professionalism of James, which made the tour less enjoyable and informative.  I sometimes felt like a herd of cows getting hurried past the sites, embarrassed to be seen as such a herd-able tourist.  Oh well.  Mainstream tourism is admissible every now and then, I suppose, if time necessitates it.

One of the days brought us to Winsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath.  Winsor has character-- after seeing numerous grand buildings and chateaus, they tend to start looking the same, but even so, Winsor stood out.  I decided I'd rather live there than at Versailles-- more homey, less gawdy.

Bath was the epicenter of leisure back in the Victorian era.  Jane Austen had a house there, so her stories were influenced by the social lives of the idle rich that met there for mingling.  There is a bath in Bath, which we toured.  It's an ancient Roman bath built around natural hot springs-- the only hot springs in the UK.

The second day trip was to Warwick Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon, and Oxford:

Warwick Castle, which has fun medieval displays and re-enactments, wax figures of Henry VIII and his six wives, and birds of prey.

Taken from the ramparts of Warwick: very nice grounds with a little river, sheep in the fields, and peacocks.

Shakespeare's house in Stratford

Oxford. We saw Christ Church, the square where they shot the first race scene in "Chariots of Fire," the pub where Bill Clinton liked to play his saxophone, and the other lovely buildings.  Also where Harry Potter was filmed. It reminded me of Princeton.

All of these sights were strung together by rolling green hills, hedgerows, grazing sheep, pig farms,  and houses with thatched roofs.  I'm glad I got to see it all!