England Day 15: Stonehenge

Pictures for Bath and Stonehenge can be found here! :)

Today started off on a bad foot but it went well after our little hiccup. The night before we had talked to local on at the bus station to try and figure out the best way to get to Stonehenge. We had looked online and there were long public bus routes to get there from Bath and we were hoping for a shorter one. She told us to catch a train to a city and then a bus from there to Stonehenge. So we got on the train and went to the the city of Chippenham and got off to catch a bus, only the buses there don't got to Stonehenge, or anywhere near. So we had to get on the train and go back to Bath and do our original plan which was to go from Bath to Salisbury on train and then take a bus to Stonehenge. It was a good thing we had BriRails so we didn't waste money buying tickets. Two girls haven't gotten there's yet so they had to buy tickets but it was only a 10 pounds wasted.

When we got to Salisbury, they had a Stonehenge tour for 15 pounds, which included the admission and bus, and it would drop us off at the entrance and we wouldn't stand in lines. Definitely a better choice then the buses we found. We hopped on the double decker tour bus and headed to Stonehenge.

When we got to Stonehenge, we hopped off the bus and headed in with our auido tours. We got to listen to a lot of the history. We were unable to touch it of course but there was a group that was allowed to be in there for their religious ceremony. The summer solstice is happening or just happened and a group called the Patons I think goes to celebrate and give a sacrifice. A little weird but oh well. Stonehenge was amazing to see and definitely worth the trip just to say I had been there. :)

We got back on the bus to Salisbury and got on the train back to London Waterloo Station. We had been traveling all morning so we were starving so we grabbed a bite at Waterloo again and then headed to the tube. This time we knew where we were going and what lines we had to get one. Definitely felt like pros. :) When we got off the tube, we headed up to King's Cross Station. Did you know that's where Harry Potter's train left from?!?! SO EXCITING! We had to catch a train out of platform 10 so we were SO CLOSE to Platform 9 and 3/4 but we couldn't find the sign and didn't have enough time to look because our train had to leave. :( But we will be going to London to visit in a few weeks so we'll DEFINITELY make time to see it! :)

We got on our trains to Ely and then Brandon, where we would get off. My group was a little worried about getting off in Ely and not Cambridge because that is where we had stopped on the way to Bath but I said we had to get off at Ely because on the way here we had gone through Ely so if we would have gotten off in Cambridge, we would have had to find another train to Ely and Brandon. I knew we had to get off in Ely because we were headed north and we needed to get off there to catch a train going East to Brandon. They were glad I knew that because otherwise we'd be stuck. They keep saying they're glad I'm here and have a good sense of direction and can read maps and train timetables well, otherwise they'd be lost. lol. I'm glad I have acquired that skill. Definitely helpful when traveling to unknown places. My mom always said I could be dropped in the middle of nowhere and find my way around. England is proving that statement correct. :)

Had a great trip back to Brandon and caught a taxi back to our base. We spent the rest of the night going over programming for Monday and practicing Blitz songs. They sang I just did the motions since I didn't have a voice. lol. But definitely a great weekend. Can't wait for our next trip. We're thinking Scotland I think! :)

Cheerio!