London Day 4, Last Full Day Here

Today's schedule consisted of touring Stonehenge and Windsor Castle. After leaving Windsor we went to a traditional English Pub, The Jugged Hare Pub, for fish and chips. We followed dinner with a trip on the London Eye for a night time picturesque view of London.

Stonehenge was an amazing site because its a huge mystery as to why its there and how it was built. We were told that to the best of current knowledge, it was built as a thank you to whomever they were thanking for providing them with rain and sun and fertile soil. Standing in felony of this structure makes you just say, how. How did they build this. The individual stones are the size of large cars and some kind of tools were definitely used to lift the horizontal blocks up on top of the uprights. I guess we will never know.

Next stop was the Queen's favorite residence, Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle is actually located in the center of the town of Windsor and it took everyone's breath away and even some to tears...meaning Mrs. Beaumont while in the gardens. We were able to eat lunch in the town that is literally a stone's throw from the outer walls of Windsor and some had a little share time for shopping prior to entering the castle for the tours. As we were on the way to our first touring spot, St. George's Chapel, we had to take an unplanned picture stop for the amazing gardens located beneath the circular tower to our right. The gardens sprawled from below this large circular tower up the hillside to the tower base. It's obvious the Queen demands the most spectacular gardens possible.

We moved onto St. George's Chapel for our tour and were blown away by the architecture of the Chapel. Many members of previous Royal Family are burried in the Chapel either beneath the floors or in raised monuments. Some of the memorials and tombs we view were Queen Elizabeth, King George III-VI, King Charles I and King Henry VI and VIII not to mention an additional impressive list of Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. The hand carving work of the woodwork is so great it's hard to believe even a modern tool could create such work.

Sorry, no pictures allowed in St. George's or the next spot, the State Apartment. This is where the Queen's doll house is housed, which we saw, and the original living and working quarters of the first Kings and Queens prior to the newer section being built. The newer section is the private apartments where the Queen stays now. The Queen was actually at the castle while we were there which is rare for a Monday as she's usually back at Buckingham by Monday. (The picture of the part of the castle behind the black iron gate is where the Queen was) The State Apartment was grand with exquisite paintings from floor to the ceiling and including ceiling and large rooms and more hand carved wood trim that no machine could replicate. This is also where Royal Family holds State Receptions in current times.

After dinner we ended the night by taking a "flight", as they say, on the London Eye. It was fun to see London from so high up although I will warn you, don't look down! London is such a huge city and when at the top of the Eye it was very visible just how large it is.

Some of us ended the night by making some last minute runs around the city via the Tube in order to see some sights each one of us wanted to see. Abbey Road, Picadilly Circus and some Harry Lotteries sights to name a few.

London Day 3

Today was our free day in London. Some of us took advantage of the Sunday free day to attend a service at Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey offers tours but our schedule didnt allow for one so this was the only other way to see the stunning architecture of the building's interior. This building began construction during the 1200's and was completed during the 1500's. How they were able to build this masterpiece is beyond our imaginations. Everything used in construction was either created by carving if stacking smaller carved or constructed materials, mostly stone. Cameras are not allowed in the Abbey but we may or may not have some for our friends and families back home.  ;-)

Another morning activity consisted of an up close picture opportunity with the Parliament Building and Big Ben. Fun fact, Big Ben is not the clock tower or the clock face itself but its actually the bell within the tower. The Parliament and Big Ben is another example of beautiful architecture in London. It's located directly on the River Thames which adds to the beautiful scene at Big Ben.

Using our Tube pass we did some exploring and Tube line hopping to get around the city making our way back to the Covent Garden area near the theater where our 2:30 show was playing. Most of us had lunch again in Covent Garden before the show. FYI - when you see "Scampi" on an English menu it doesn't mean shrimp scampi as what you're familiar with in America. It's fried fishy nuggets. Unidentified fried seafood nuggets may be more accurate. Oh and one more thing. Lindsay and myself encountered a certain famous actor, see if you can pick him out in the pictures.

After lunch the entire group was treated to a great showing of Disney's Lion King at the Lyceum Theater in the West End. The show had amazing animal costumes that converted the actors into on stage puppets. After the first act or so you began to only see the animals and not the actors behind them really bringing the show to life.

We exited the theater to find our first taste of the London rain. The weather has been dry and warm compares to the average but this evening brought typical weather back to London. We had to split into two groups to make it back to the subway and get back to our hotel. We were not prepared for rain so we were all soaked. After getting back to the hotel everyone changed and met in the lobby for dinner.

Before coming to London we had several people tell us we must try the Indian food in London, apparently London is known for Indian food. At the recommendation of our hotel concierge we made reservations at Shaman, an authentic Indian restaurant. The food was great and it was a fun experience.

After dinner the rain still had not let up, actually it was raining harder only this time everyone was prepared. We zipped up our raincoats and opened up the umbrellas for the walk back to the hotel.