Part 2 of An American in London takes us on a bus tour. I booked through Viator.com and I recommend. Today we will see Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and The Roman Baths in Bath.

I first start the morning by using a city bike that had a location right next to my hostel. Fortunately I was able to have help from a local when I couldn’t get it figured out. I now realize what I did wrong and that will be for another post. But thankfully I was able to get it going and get to the bus station and have coffee and breakfast in hand right before they where ready to pull out. So… don’t make that mistake. Give yourself plenty of time

The bus pulled out and we made our way into the freeway with the commuters up to Windsor to the Windsor Castle. Built in the 11th Century it does have more of the mote style with separate tower locations and a brick wall going all around the perimeter.

We only had the opportunity to tour the State Rooms and the artwork that is throughout the rooms. And sadly no pictures or videos taken. After the tour I was able to catch the first part of the changing of the guards.

Back to the bus with a coffee, we made our way to Stonehenge. Here we get away from the villages and cities and out in the rural parts with rolling hills and farmland. We got dropped off at the visitor center and made our way to the shuttles. There are walking paths which I would normally do if it wasn’t for the time restraints we were under. It was a possibly a mile or so from the visitor center to where Stonehenge is at.

Once there I had time to walk around, read the signs and information. We were given a map and a recorder to listen at different points to listen along with the actual visual we had while walking around.

It always amazes me with our human needs to collect time. Stonehenge could be a spiritual, religious alter or more than likely a way to check the time of seasons. We collect days, weeks, months and years. We collect the seasons, when to plant, when to harvest and when to rest. We celebrate, we war, we fast, we collect all through the passage of time. I believe we try to remember but we mostly forget.

Back to the bus for one more exploration in the village of Bath to tour the Roman Baths. Built in the 2nd century during the Roman conquests during the Roman Empire. The Roman Baths were used as a Temple, gym and for healing in the natural hot springs.

It was impressive with how much had been recovered and saved through the centuries. I wasn’t able to listen to the full audio on a recorder we were given. I gave myself an hour to walk around and to take in the Baths before I went to explore the village of Bath itself.

This had been at the top of my list and I rather wish I would of had more time here. Though I am glad I did the tour I know that next time I will take the train from London and head to Bath for a full day excursion. I am a big Jane Austin fan and my favorite book of her Persuasion takes place in Bath. There is also a Jane Austin museum and tea house. Eh, I will be back there soon.

I walked around trying to envision Jane Austin trying to capture these moments between Ann and Captain Wentworth. And I get it, Captain Wentworth isn’t for everyone. Everyone rather loves and adores Darcy. I do as well. But it’s the heart of the story. The loss of years, of being put on the back burner with your family and the guilt and anger that we hold when we are young and wondering if we made the right choices for ourselves and holding on to someone something for so long and not ever knowing if you will ever have that chance again. And they reappear and well things just don’t go as you would hope but eventually somehow a miracle happens and fools let go and oh my that letter.

Well that I suppose is what I thought about as I wondered parts of the streets in Bath. I also came across a few spots that are filmed for the Netflix show Bridgerton.

All to say I had a fun filled day. We got back to London. I took a nice walk back to my hostel taking a detour for dinner. I was slightly disappointed with my fish and Chips. And then had to go a get a PCR test. Thankfully I was able to find a place after a $100 dollars our so I could get on my flight back to the states. Which if I would have been able to stay one more day there I wouldn’t of had to pay that $100 dollars. That’s really my only complaint.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour and please let me know of your favorite place in London for your favorite Fish and Chips.

You can find part 1 here

With love,

Jess