Monday, July 11, 2011

Day Seven - The Road to London

Dr. Waller met us for breakfast to say goodbye and we were all on the bus by 8am. Darrin had bought us a lovely box of chocolates to mark our last day together. They were delicious!

Our first stop was Stonehenge. This was not originally part of the tour and was something additional we had to pay for, but it was requested by several folks on the trip since we were so close. We arrived about 9:30am before most of the other tour groups (who were stacked up as we left). We used the audio tour and decided they didn't understand the concept of "short version." But it was an incredible view and definitely an interesting experience to be that close to Stonehenge and wonder how those stones had gotten there!

Next we got back on the bus and headed to Windsor. A little crazy to think that they have actually built a Legoland a few miles from Windsor Castle! When we arrived at the complex for the castle, we met our guide Ross there and had lunch in the shopping area - Caffe Nero with the Opalinskis and the Thomases. We picked up paninis out of a refrigerated case which they toasted. Daryl got chips and I got yogurt to go with it. Later we were joking around about buying Brett this hat so that he could be an easily visible leader for us on our free day in London.

Approaching the castle, Ross talked about the history of the place and how it had been built in stages over many centuries by England's monarchs. We also got to see the guards parade past us a couple of time on our way to the beautiful terraced garden built into the old moat.






Over the wall you could look out on the grounds of the very prestigious Eton school.

Next we toured the state apartments which were overwhelming in their opulence. There was some amazing art on display - enormous in its scale and by masters like Rubens and Van Dyck. St. George's Hall, the site of many formal dinners and state occasions, was very impressive as well. We concluded our tour of the grounds by visiting the chapel where many members of the royal family are buried including Queen Elizabeth's parents and sister. We finished up with a little shopping and Debbie got her picture taken near one of the guards - if you got too close he started stomping his feet!

We were back on the bus by 2:30pm and supposed to arrive at our hotel in east London by 4pm. Unfortunately we took the long way did not get to our hotel until past 5:30pm. We dumped our luggage in an area just off the lobby, said goodbye to Darrin and picked up our new drivers in two vans for the night in London. We had 6:30pm dinner reservations in the theatre district at the Marquess of Angelsby and made it just a few minutes past. After a lovely meal of salad, fish and chips and fruit crumble, we headed down to Haymarket Street to Her Majesty's Theater to catch a performance of Phantom of the Opera. This is Daryl's all-time favorite music and it was wonderful! Some people in our group had never seen it and really loved it. The theatre was quite large (four stores) but quite intimate in its seating arrangement. EO had arranged for our tickets just that afternoon and was able to secure first floor seats.

After the performance, we headed back into the vans and to the hotel. It was so beautiful to see London all lit up at night! Plus we got to see the Queen! She apparently was headed back to Buckingham Palace and her motorcade passed right by us in the opposite direction.

When we arrived back at the hotel, we grabbed our luggage and headed straight for our room. We had a moment's pause at the door though - we could not get a single light switch to work! Finally figured out that you could not operate any lights or electronics in the room unless you put your room key into the slot on the wall by the door!

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