Today was a special day as not only were we all getting to experience something that Australia is completely untouched by but we also had the opportunity to go to a place that we had all wanted to go to for a long time! Today was our guided tour to Stonehenge and Bath!
Although the day started early we were all quickly up and ready to catch the Underground to the Victoria Station and from there find the Victoria Coach Station.
The Underground has practically become second-nature to us in only a few short days however the main struggle lay in actually trying to find the Victoria Coach Station! Mum has a great sense of direction and knew roughly where we were supposed to go. However, after directional signs ran out and we had walked around way too many corners, we eventually had to rely on Google Maps and our observational skills.
We did eventually make it to the Victoria Coach Station and after a quick stop to the toilet and to Pret a Manger to buy some water for the trip we headed to Gate 18, where we would be departing from.
There were two tours operating around us, our Stonehenge and Bath tour and another tour to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour, something we had the chance to do last trip. It was awesome to watch the little kids mostly decked out in their Harry Potter gear board their bus excited for the journey ahead.
It was soon our turn as we lined up outside our bus and had our first interaction with our charismatic tour guide before we boarded the bus just as excited for the trip ahead.
We soon pulled out of the station and were introduced properly to Andrew, our tour guide and Andre, the bus driver. The London sights blurred past us as we began our departure from the center of the city, it was great to see the sights of London instead of being stuck in the underground train lines. Andrew provided an never-ending commentary on the sights of London, including many different facts that we hadn’t heard before.
Eventually as it was still quite early in the morning and a two hour drive to our first stop; Stonehenge, everyone had the chance to have a chance to catch up on some sleep. Everyone did attempt to get some shut-eye, Dad’s shoulder was even used as a pillow (thanks dad!).
An hour and a half later and a quick toilet stop we were all awoken from our slumber for more commentary on Stonehenge and the several theories that claim to prove the mystery surrounding the monument.
Some of these theories include; it being used as a landing pad for aliens, having mystical healing purposes as well as the most common and most widely accepted theory that Stonehenge was used as a giant clock that illustrated when the Winter and Summer Solstice were due to happen. Even in present day, Stonehenge holds huge ceremonies on these days which thousands of people attend.
The reality of what we had signed up for slapped us across the face as we faced our first encounter with the frigid and harsh wind. It didn’t take long for the strong wind to whip Dad’s ticket away, we were pretty sure it would have reached London in a few minutes.
We then proceeded to walk along the designated path around the monument stopping along the way to listen to our audio guides and to take pictures. Stonehenge was truly beautiful and has a lot more depth and history behind it than it just being ‘a few rocks on the side of the road’.
Eventually the cold got too much to bear, we all could have lost a few fingers or toes and we most likely wouldn’t have even noticed. So after a quick coach ride back to the exhibition and gift shop part of the site, a blistering hot chocolate that burnt everyone’s tongues we hopped back onto the bus for the next half of our journey – to Bath.
Once again most people took the opportunity of another long bus ride to have a bit of a sleep before we were woken up again by Andrew twenty minutes out of Bath to explain the itinerary as well some more facts as we entered into the charming town.
After a quick walk through town past the enchanting smells and sights of the Christmas market we reached our destination, the Roman Baths in the center of town.
This was where Hamish and I had the opportunity to truly put our Year 7 Ancient Rome history knowledge to the test and we toured the baths with the help of our audio guides. The Ancient Roman architecture was gorgeous and it’s amazing how well preserved the baths are after all this time.
The water was dark green and had plenty of algae floating across the top, the various warnings discouraged people from entering the water due to health risks, but honestly who really would want to enter into the water? Just think of how much bird poop there must be in the water!
We stayed around the Roman Baths for an hour and a half and after a quick trip through the gift shop as one must always do, we headed out into the streets to try and find a spot for lunch.
Between the Christmas market (the largest one in the country), the fact that it was a Friday and was so close to Christmas there were plenty of people in the streets.
As the skies darkened and the Christmas lights adorned the sky, Bath had a peaceful feeling settle across it as we had around two hours just to wander the streets and do whatever we wanted.
After looking through several market stores including several near purchases such as hard boiled sweets from a sweet shop recommended by Andrew our tour guide as well as a second hand copy of the classic novel, Wuthering Heights. Megan did end up buying a few sets of novelty buttons for use in therapy.
We boarded the bus at the end of our day completely exhausted. Hamish and I slept practically the entire way home while Mum and Dad managed to get nearly 15 pages of notes regarding our trip from Andrew who offered plenty of advice to our questions. Overall we did truly have an amazing day and were very glad that we had the chance to do such an amazing tour.
