Saturday, August 28, 2010

LONDON Day 4

LONDON Day 4: Stonehenge, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Oxford Street

Go to Stonehenge. It is magnificent.

I was skeptical about how stimulating some several thousand year old stones would be, but I was wrong. The English Heritage society has put together a great audio tour to go with the site, delivered through small devices, similar to walkie-talkies, and numbered markers around the monument.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="Beautiful Clouds above Stonehenge"][/caption]

Apparently, Stonehenge is the third “henge” at that site. The first was built of wood over around 3,000 BC, (about 5,000 years ago), the second made of bluestones around 2,500 BC, and the current Stonehenge, which was made just a few years later. It was ALREADY an ancient site when the Romans came to England over 2,000 years ago.

Our whole Stonehenge excursion was part of a planned bus tour. It was 25 pounds total and it covered direct bus rides to Stonehenge and back (about a 2 hour trip from London) as well as admission to the site. This was definitely the most stress-free way to go, and I would highly recommend it to anyone trying to get to Stonehenge from London, as any other means of travel besides renting a car requires at least a bus change in Salisbury.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="Stonehenge"][/caption]

We got back to London around 2:30 pm. Continuing our trend of seeing places without actually going inside, we strolled around Buckingham Palace, forgoing the 17 pound entrance fee and just appreciating how ungodly huge the whole thing was. There’s no reason one family needs a place that big, that’s all I’m saying.

Thanks to John’s uncannily good sense of direction we continued on a very nice walk from the Palace to Hyde Park, just one of London’s many LARGE parks on the west end, and the Marble Arch, at the corner of Hyde Park and Oxford Street. I then led the invasion of Oxford St, because Oxford is the shopping district and I can always find my way around a shopping district.

After a quick stop at Primark, a store that is called Penny’s in Ireland that I fell in love with last time I was abroad, we headed home.

We ate dinner at Zonzo on Edgware Road, which was reasonably priced, adorable, and delicious. After taking our time over our meal, we headed back to the flat to clean, take out the trash, and pack up for Paris, which is our next stop.

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