7/1/19 - A castle, a bath and some big rocks

Day 15. Today is a full day bus tour outside London. This was one I wanted to do but I don’t think the kids were all too thrilled with 6:30am wake-up call. “Where are we going again that we have to get up this early?”

When I booked the trip, I thought we’d be getting back at 4pm so I arrange to meet up with my friend John who I worked with for 15+ years and is running a company in London at 5pm. Then my friend from business school, Eric, organized a family BBQ for us at 7pm. I ask what time the bus gets back and am told 8pm. “Crap, that just blew up two planned events.”

First stop is Windsor Castle (which was originally a defense fortress). The queue to get in was insane - I think it took 1.5 hours from when we got off the bus to when we got inside. Our tour guide (Robert from Ireland) was quite entertaining and kept us occupied with the story of King Henry VIII and his 6 wives. Once we got in the Castle, we were pretty rushed (which will become a recurring theme for the day) as we only had ~45 mins to explore. We walked the outside perimeter, saw the Royal Staterooms (King & Queen’s rooms, art collections, antique furniture), St George’s Castle and the Changing of the Guard.

The whole experience (Castle & Henry VIII story) was very Game of Thrones like - Castles, fortresses, kings, queens, swords, jousting, affairs, arranged marriages and executions. The only thing I didn't hear of was someone being poisned.

Second stop is Bath, England which is home to an impressive Roman bath house which was built in 76 AD when the Romans occupied Great Britain and lasted over centuries. Another UNESCO World Heritage Site box checked. John loves Greek and Roman history and really enjoyed it as did I having taken 5 years of Latin in high school and college.

Third stop is Stone Henge. Another UNESCO site box checked. It’s been a long day and I don’t think the kids quite appreciated the mystery and science of Stone Henge. “Yup. Pretty cool rocks. Can we go now?” Stone Henge was built 5,000 years ago by late Neolithic people who dragged these monstrous stones a great distance and organized them in a way to track the summer and winter solstices. I thought it was cool.

Net-net, I give the day trip mixed reviews. Out of 12 hours from start to finish, we only got to spend a combined <2 hours in the 3 places with >10 hours of bus driving and waiting in queues. The 3 sties were definitely cool but tough price to pay to see them. I do think it was important that the kids experienced other parts of England as it is very different from London.

As soon as the bus pulls in, we are flying off and in 2 Ubers to Eric’s BBQ. Fashionably (ok more than that) late, the BBQ was fantastic. 14 people including the kids and the kids appreciated hamburgers and sausages.