Our next day in London! We had to wake up early because this was our 'Day Trip' day. We all slept pretty damn well that night because of the whole time change thing so it was still a little difficult to get up early - the bus tour operators, Gray Line, were picking us up at a neighboring hotel and we had to be there on time. Go figure. That was a nice hotel by the way - I can't even imagine how much that place cost in American Dollars. But anyways, the Gray Line trip we booked was to take us first to Salisbury, followed by the amazing Stonehenge, and finally the Roman city of Bath - afterwards a 2 1/2 hour drive back to London. So we weren't going to be back in the city until about 7pm - yes, it was a very long day, but definitely scenic.

So after our shuttle bus picked us up, we were taken to the main tourist bus area where we transferred on to our tour bus - and it was definitely a full bus. I ended up sitting alone for a little bit, but as the bus filled up more and more, it was inevitable that all seats would be filled. I ended up sitting next to a really cool Native American woman who was also with much of her family on vacation. And they liked to talk and talk and talk and laugh and laugh - it became annoying much later on the final drive home, but in the meantime, it wasn't so bad.

It takes about an hour or so to drive up to Salisbury, and the weather was amazing. I've been to Salisbury before but it's definitely not something you can get tired of seeing. Salisbury is a beautiful small city/village which has as its centerpoint the amazing Salisbury Cathedral. As you'll see in the pictures below, the cathedral itself is quite breath-taking. In fact, it's the tallest cathedral in ALL of England, and is approximately 450 feet high, about as high as the London Eye.

As we found out, the tour bus guide was mostly there to provide a running commentary while the bus was driving to places, but at each location, we were allotted a certain time to explore on our own, which was cool in a way, but I honestly thought we'd get a bit more 'guidance'. So anyways, we had about 45 minutes or so to look around at the cathedral grounds and inside - pictures below show all that - and needless to say it's pretty amazing. We then met up for lunch at a nearby pub called the Cloister - and had some pretty decent beef stew and met some of our fellow travelers. We started talking to the couple sharing our table with us and to my surprise, the guy was involved in the home audio/video installation business. SWEET.

So here are the pictures from the morning and up through Salisbury and the Cloister. Stonehenge awaits!

March 28, 2007: Leaving London, Salisbury, and lunch at the Cloister
Susan and Jeff prepare to take the bus tour	I am SO ready	Cool coat of arms in Salisbury	Susan stands at the gate to the Salisbury cloister	Looking back towards the gate	Looking back on the street towards the cathedral	Ah, there it is. So small.	This mo'fo is huge	There's me and Susan in the background
Jeff and mini-Susan	Can you see how huge this tower is? Reeediculous.	Inside the cathedral. Beautiful!	There's our tour guide	Me in the cathedral	A silent fountain in the middle of the church - very cool	A portion of the church	Some cool stained glass	The double organ of the cathedral
The path away from the cathedral	My Masterpiece Theater shot	Looking at the exterior of the Cloister Pub

And after lunch, we were back on the bus and on our way to the amazing ruins of what is possibly one of the world's greatest and oldest mysteries - the rock formations of Stonehenge! I won't try to pretend and make it seem as if I know lots and lots about Stonehenge - but you can click HERE to read about Stonehenge at Wikipedia. Regardless, Jeff and Susan were extremely excited to see Stonehenge - I saw it back in 2002 so while I was still completely ready to see it again, the first time (like so many things) is always the time that has the most anticipation and excitement associated with it. So about a half-hour later, our bus crested the hill of the English rolling hills landscape and there was Stonehenge! It is still funny to see that Stonehenge is literally right off the side of the highway, just like those stone dinosaurs outside of Palm Springs. Okay, bad analogy. But still, you'd expect Stonehenge to be in a more grand environment. Allegedly it is still in the works to reroute the highway into a tunnel so that the environment isn't tainted...but they were saying that back in '02, so I'll believe it when I see it. Anyways, below are the pics from our 2nd stop of the day trip - Stonehenge!

March 28, 2007: Shots at Stonehenge
The British countryside from Stonehenge	Stonehenge!	Closeups of the stones	center stage	Looking across - 5 years ago I have a pic of me through this same arch	Me!	Jeff!	Widescreen photo time begins!
More widescreen shots!		Susan, her guided tour, and Stonehenge!	Jeff too	Widescreen goodness continues		And again
Jeff and Stonehenge		Me and Stonehenge		What Stonehenge was supposed to have looked like in the past		Another wide shot of the countryside from Stonehenge

We had about an hour to walk around Stonehenge, which when you consider it's a creative stacking of rocks, is probably enough time. After that, we then boarded the bus again for about an hour's drive to the city of Bath. I hadn't mentioned it earlier, but during the previous driving segments, it had been obvious that our bus driver's primary job was actually as a NASCAR racer and this job was just secondary. But it provided him a chance to still practice his skills while driving the bus..... and oh yes, we found that out as the bus was rounding the corners and driving the highway. The man LOVED to drive fast. Well, on our way to Bath, he was driving in that 'zone' and apparently didn't notice the traffic stopped ahead of him - well, we all soon realized it as he slammed on the brakes and sent all of us lurching forward in our seats (fortunately, it had been a tour bus company requirement for us to all buckle our seatbelts up) and the squeal of brakes accompanied many gasps as we all looked forward to see the rear of a truck in the front window. We didn't stop in time. Sure enough, we hit the back of the truck in front of us - amazingly, not as hard as it could have been. The damage to the bus was only a broken window - the truck suffered dents to its rear loading doors, which you might be able to see in the pic below. Our trip was delayed a half hour or so as the proper paperwork was done, but eventually we were back on our way towards Bath.

As you approach the center of the city, you see the massive settlements that look like giant walls on the hillside. They're a bunch of houses, I assume, and not where we were headed, but it was still an impressive sight to witness as we were driving into town. Once in Bath, the bus dropped us off in the middle of the town, which sits on the river Avon. The city is a major attraction because of the discovery a few decades ago of the Roman bath ruins that had been built on top of by apartments. Apparently some apartments kept repeatedly getting flooded basements...with warm water. Sure enough, excavations revealed that the apartments were built on Roman ruins that had been the site of where the Romans, when they had occupied England, had built a temple and bath on natural hot springs situated in the city. Obviously the Romans had their day...and of course that day ended, and history and time served to mostly erase their presence. Amazingly though, much remains of the temple, even with all the development on top of it, which you can see in the pics below. It was a pretty amazing thing to see, and the springs function to this day. You're not supposed to touch the water though...so much for the healing aspects? Here's a Wikipedia link to Bath if you really want and need to know more!

March 28, 2007: Bath, England
The truck our bus hit	You can see the massive settlements on the hill in the background	The church that sits next to the Baths	Not a good shot of the broken window - I was a bit embarassed to take this	The sign to the Roman Baths	Looking down at the main pool from the upper deck	Again	Who's that good looking guy?	There he is again!
And there's Jeff	A view of the church from the upper level of the Bath	A neat little square adjacent to the Bath - I love these types of places in Europe!	A Roman soldier overlooks the pool	A nice combination of ancient and not-so-ancient	A wooden model of how the temple would have looked	More	Some remnants of the portico over the temple	Tile pillars that used to support the steam room floors
Me at the bottom level	Picture of the pool from the bottom	Me	There it is again	One of the 'cool' pools	Picture of the River Avon from Bath	River Avon	Shot while in downtown Bath

About two and a half hours is what it took to get back into London - and in that period of time, Susan nearly committed murder. This was because the Native Americans I mentioned earlier had decided (well, some of them) to get utterly trashed. And they talked, loudly, the entire drive back. My seatmate was fun to talk to, but the others were just really loud. And if you thought you were going to get some sleep before getting back into town, you were wrong.

Anyways, a long time later, we got back into town and got dropped off on...Regent Street? I can't remember, but it was on the street that runs straight towards the London Eye yet also Parliament and Westminster Abbey. And at night, that's one helluva view. We were on the hunt for the Sherlock Holmes Pub, and boy were we in the wrong area. But we had a great walk down to the Thames, at which we then found out that the pub was closer to Charing Cross Station - and amazingly we did find the pub, as it is quite different in appearance from the office buildings around it. Unfortunately, it was a little blah and expensive and limited in the menu, not to mention the service consisted of exactly one waiter. My impatience showed and I convinced Jeff and Susan to go elsewhere. We then consulted the bible..er, I mean Rick Steves' London and discovered that another pub was somewhat nearby - called the Pub of the Moon (or something like that) right near Trafalgar Square, which somehow we ended up near. That's an awesome sight to see at night as well! After that it was time to go back to the hotel and crash for the next day - as while we had another full day in London, that next evening we'd be headed out to PARIS! Or so we thought!

March 28, 2007: Walking in London at night upon returning from Bath
Amazing view of Westminster Abbey, Parliament and the Eye	Again	Westminster Abbey - and Jeff taking...	...this picture	Closer to the Abbey	Me and Susan, scandalous!	Jeff and Susan in front of a building that changes colors - cool!		Big Ben and the Eye at night
I had to get a picture of me drinking a Guinness in England!	Susan and Jeff at the Charing Cross tube station	Me reviewing the day's events