Still cold and bleak but not raining....off to the countryside for the day.
We are on a coach and I am craving a cuppa......hope the Queen has the kettle on at Windsor Castle! Also hope she has some gluten free bickies.......no one else in London has. Very surprised with the lack of GF options here.....even In Harrods I could only find some little friands in a packet hidden on the bottom shelf........then yesterday I found a 'Byron Bay Cookie' would you believe!! Time the penny dropped for the Pommies!
Windsor Castle - definitely worth a look, if only the walls could talk! The queen was home but we didn't get an invite in. We saw where the fire of 1992 started and what has been restored, apparently there were only 3 things lost in the fire, a painting that was too large to get through any door, likewise a table, and a built-in piano.....amazing really. Very commercialised area around the castle but lovely. Had a lovely but quick lunch.......yummy chicken soup! Cannot believe the castle lies directly under the flightpath for Heathrow!
We are driving through the Beautiful green countryside.......believe it or not we can see a small piece of blue sky.
Next stop Stonehenge - Interesting.....built over 1000yr period apparently, starting 3000 BC by some cleaver ancient culture......aligned with the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter sunset.......obviously the sun hasn't changed it's habits in quite a while. Many buriel mounds surrounding the area, each mound only contains 1 body in the fetus position buried with some earthly possessions.
Travelling through more sprawling green and gold (canola crops) on to......
Oxford - The city of spires. Oh My God how gorgeous is Oxford, what a privilige it would be to study there. How hard would it be to leave once you graduated. The University does not have a campus, it's 39 colleges form the university. It is scattered over all parts of the town. Started as a Monastic University.... Clinton, Hawke, Thatcher, Blair, studied there, it is a State university 12,000 undergraduates study there at any one time, anyone may apply to go there, but obviously there is a very tight selection process.
We had a cuppa in a quaint coffee shop before heading back to London. (about 2 hours), then on the Underground again (I'm sure Scott would be proud of how we have navigated the tube daily!)
Incidently we passed the factory where 'Baby Erd' was born!
Back to have a nice dinner and pack for early Eurostar trip to Paris.......
Big day but a great day!
Something that has surprised us about the sight seeings trips we have been on in London......both the guide and driver expect and actually ask for tips......even a 3 hour morning tour????? Don't Trafalgar pay these people......are they forced to beg for their earnings......seriously we really not educated in this tipping mentality! I blame the employers for this!!!'

Roger's added thoughts on the day ..........

Windsor Castle was very grand as we expected, loved the gun room and the eating houses outside, very cute.
I dropped one of my gloves (my special ski gloves) luckily a lady saw me drop it and cane running after me...how kucky was that?
The Queen has her private parks 1000 acres. They farm meat and veges...they stamp the food and sell it as well.
The countryside around here is so very green.

Stonehenge looks exactly like the photos. For the shortest day of the year they expect 30,000 people, for when the shadows line up in the sun.

Oxford is a beautiful place...first started building it in 1350, if u did a degree here you would never want to leave.

Another nice night, dinner in London. Out of here tomorrow on the fast train to Paris, under the water....I'm taking my diving gear in case it leaks.

Had to get money out of the ATM tonight. Whole team was on full alert (like giraffe's drinking water!)....we went to 3 different ATM's before we plucked up courage to withdraw the money.

We have given 'the tube' a good go, we reckon we have got it all worked out. Tonight the plant shut down, but we still got home OK. (line works)

Eileen is going to send her jeans home by themselves....washing is a big problem.