As our first week in London came to a close, some of my classmates and I were eager to get out of the city and explore other parts of the country. Some of us had already booked a day trip to Paris the following week, so this first weekend was our only opportunity to visit other places in England.

Hunter, Diana, Rachael, Kacie and I settled on a guided day trip to see Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and the city of Bath on the first Sunday since arriving in London. We booked the trip through the same company that would conduct our Paris excursion, so we were hoping the experience would also give us a taste of what to expect when we left for France.

The trip did not start off auspiciously. We had knowingly reserved tickets that didn’t include the entrance fees to the attractions, but we were persuaded to upgrade our trip package with the entrance fees because it would be cheaper in the long run. After waiting at the ticket counter for the clerk to update all of our trips, we scrambled to find our coach bus.

I felt a lot more relieved once we were seated, and we left shortly after. We headed to Windsor first, which was about 30 minutes outside of London. We decided to forego the tickets into Windsor Castle and visit Stonehenge and the Roman baths in Bath instead, so we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a cafe outside of the castle grounds and then shopped around the town for a little bit.

The Royal Standard was flying over Windsor Castle, though, which meant that we were in town the same time as the Queen!

Not two hours later, we were on the road again heading to Bath. The architecture is exquisite there, with beautiful Georgian buildings made of limestone. We took a tour of the Roman baths as well. It is incredible to think about the Romans being in England and their structures still standing today!

Unfortunately our time was also limited, and we were once again on the road, this time towards Stonehenge. I knew little of the history of Stonehenge, but that was OK, since the experts know little, too. It was interesting to learn that researchers believe it was some sort of burial ground that people would visit for healing properties.

Overall I wish we could have spent more time in Bath, but we were all exhausted by the end of the day!