Windsor Castle
An early start to our Saturday morning, we headed out from Victoria Coach Station with our entertaining tour guide, Toby, and brilliant driver, Mark. Being at Windsor Castle was surreal…so ancient; I remember reading all the histories when I was at Cal Poly and yet so many recent events there that I’ve obsessively watched, too (who hasn’t obsessed over all the royal weddings?). It was absolutely incredible to be there in person and to see places where everyone from King William the Conqueror to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge have dwelt. Unbelievably amazing experience!
Waiting for our tour bus with Evan Evans. 
Victoria Coach Station is covered from the elements. 
Our first glimpse of Windsor Castle above the village of Windsor. 
This mosaic is made out of LEGO bricks! 
Salisbury Tower on the Lower Ward 
Statue of Queen Victoria 
We have friends with the surname Drury! 
The Round Tower 
Anthony with his “happy kid” smile. 
Archer slots – so rad!! 
Cannon guarding Windsor 
View of the Thames 
Looking down on the green out to the Thames 
The Quadrangle 
What used to be the moat around the Round Tower is now an idyllic garden. Do you see the hobbit door? 
We really loved our tour here! 
The start of the Changing of the Guard ceremony.
Stonehenge
From Windsor, we rebounded our tour coach and set out on the long drive to Wiltshire to visit Stonehenge. There was an accident on the road ahead of us, so we had a lot of slow-moving traffic. That’s OK, because I think I found the Wood Between the Worlds from The Magician’s Nephewwhile we waited for the road to clear.
Now this is the part of the post where I give you some touring tips:
- Pack a scarf, hat, and gloves, no matter how nice the morning starts out. Stonehenge was freezing cold.
- Check to make sure your phone is in your pocket before you leave the tour coach (bus), because it’s too far to go back. I didn’t get any pictures of Stonehenge.
- Buy a phone charging pack. Anthony’s phone died on the way to Stonehenge, so he also got no pictures.
- Make friends with your tour guide. When I told Toby that I’d left my phone and we didn’t get a single picture of the standing stones, he kindly sent me some of his!
The Heel Stone with Stonehenge behind. On Midwinter’s Sunset, the sun looks like it’s sitting on that knob (tenon) on the Great Trilithon. (Thanks for the photo, Toby!)
The Down Barrows (photo taken from the coach as we left) 
Ancient burial mounds near Stonehenge.
Oxford
After leaving Stonehenge, we drove another long stretch to Oxford. This was significant for Anthony and I, because almost 12 years ago, I was studying mediaeval literature at Cal Poly and had the opportunity to study abroad at Oxford. We had already had Jonathan the year before, but had this crazy idea that maybe this could work out and our family could spend part of the coming school year in England. However, we soon discovered that we were pregnant, and decided that this was not the time to be making wild changes in our family. This was absolutely the right choice to make, but I’ve always kind of had this “what would it have been like…” thought. Heading into Oxford, I was thrilled to see it, and also completely content with the choice that our family made to stay home and grow our family.
Driving into Oxford over the Thames 
We had fish & chips and a pint here. 
The Bridge of Sighs
Daniella Indie 