European holiday........Windsor castle, Stonehenge, Bath.

A coach tour for us today, and a pick up at the Thistle Hotel, just around the corner. Such are the accents of the staff here, (they are mostly from India, Poland and Romania) that TRO thought it was the Tissol Hotel, so we spent a little time searching for a non existing hotel prior to our departure morning.

We were taken to Victoria station, where we met Mama, Aysha's English Nanna . There we boarded our coach with our first stop being Windsor castle.
This magnificent castle was built around 1066 by William the Conquerer, and added to over the years. This particular building is the residence of the royal Family. Needless to say, we were not permitted to tour that area.





This arrow opening on the rampart shows the view the defending archer would have had in times of attack.







We were able to visit the state apartments, where official functions are held. These are very beautiful, and sumptuously furnished...no photos allowed I am afraid. We also very quickly saw St George's Chapal, and a little more guard action.




Too little time for this lovely place, we will put it on the come back to list for another time.

Next stop...Stonehenge. I was amazed at how small it is. It was very cold while we were there, but we were able to be ferried up to the henge and back to the visitors centre between showers which was good.



Did I say how astonished I was at the size of the structure? It's really quite small, although we were assured by one of the guides that it wasn't really once you got up closer. As we were not allowed any closer, I have no idea if he was telling us the truth.




Back in our coach, and off to the very historical town of Bath. We were diverted from our route because of flood waters. England has been batttered with bad storms, resulting in severe flooding over the last couple of weeks.

We had a tour of the Roman baths. It's quite something to see these baths which were in existence back in roman times. The baths are the best preserved ancient baths in Northern Europe, and the only thermal strings in the UK that emerge from deep underground.






I managed a quick peek in the Bath Abbey, which until Henry VIII swept through, was Catholic. It has been Anglican ever since, and like all churches we have been in, has many tombs inside. It is very beautiful and it's ceiling structure is identical to the one in St. George's Chapel that I could not photograph.








Our coach dropped us at Victoria station, and we last saw Mama as she ran for her train. We found ourselves a quick snack, bought some tube tickets and made our way home , three very weary travelers . It had been a long, tiring day, but very worthwhile to see some more of this ancient green land.

Location:Esplanade,Frinton-On-Sea,United Kingdom