Written by Derrick.


Taking my own sweet time, I still managed to reach Euston station WAY before the appointed time. And so, took a slow walk around and explored the vicinity, buses and train to everywhere, probably where the 3 fellas took their train off to Liverpool quite some time before me.

Met up with Melanie, my tour guide for the day, as she led me off to Victoria bus station, where I would start off my whole full tour around the outskirts of London. My first stop was Windsor Castle, and it didn't take long before we reached. As we proceeded to the ticketing booth, our friendly tour guide bombarded us with loads of information in her Queen's accent.

Here goes, the Windsor Castle is one of the principal official residences of the British Monarch, together with Buckingham Palace in London & Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends of the year at the castle, using it for both state and private entertaining. Her other 2 residences, Sandringham House & Balmoral Castle, are the Royal Family's private homes.

As we entered Windsor castle, we were greeted by hundreds of Brits and Americans there during their vacation. Here, you have the Upper Ward where the private apartments are located, the Round Tower & also the exterior facade of the South Wing, which gave the castle its symmetrical facade seen from the Long Walk.


Well, it proved a tad wasted to not being able to take pictures within the residences itself. Shelves of rapiers & foils, coupled with insignia formed up medieval pistols, the coat of arms of all the military units present in the United Kingdom. Aye, dang.

Many of the Charles II state rooms which remained after George III's redecorations were redesigned in Gothic Style, most notably St. George's Hall, which was doubled in length. Roofed over a courtyard, was the creation of the Waterloo Chamber. This vast hall lit by a clerestory was designed to celebrate the victors of the Battle of Waterloo and was hung with portraits of the allied sovereigns who vanquished Napolean.

Of course, not to mention, the daily Change of Guards they have.


Travelling down, we have the St. George's Chapel in the Lower Ward. The famed King Edward IV who was the first Yorkist King, who was said to be addicted to "the advauncement of vaine pompe" started construction, in 1475 whose architecture is in the Perpendicular Gothic Style.

Yeap, another you-shall-not-take-any-pictures-inside venue. Pity eh? then again, here you have, all the views of the chapel from the outside.


Here's a picture of the Windsor Castle Guard of the Foot Guards of the Household division.


And it was goodbye to the Royal Residence.

Back to the bus, I unknowingly fell asleep, only to wake up to another session of information overload by my dear tour guide. Soon enough, it was lunch at the 'Stonehenge inn'. A warm welcome by the country folks, and I was treated to a sumptuous main course of stewed beef with london pastry. Yum yum.


Of course, now to what I deemed to be the highlight of the whole trip. This WAS supposed to be a secret. YES I TRAVELLED MORE THAN 10,000km JUST TO SEE THIS. THE STONEHENGE!!! MUAHAHAHAHHA. Ok sorry. Just another set of standing stones? But nope, I'm not that crazy to spend a whole day staring at stones. Well, here you go, the mystical stonehenge.



Many aspects of Stonehenge remain subject to debate. And yes we know it has something to do with Celts, but there are all those out-of-the-world theories include how Merlin summoned the stones, so on and so forth. Over the years, authors suggested supernatural or anachronistic methods were used, of course, asserting that the stones were impossible to move.

What I think? Its a temple.


According to folklore, the Devil bought the stones from a woman in Ireland, wrapped them up, and brought them to Salisbury plain. One of the stones fell into the Avon, the rest were carried to the plain. The Devil then cried out, "No one will ever find out how these stones came here!" The friar replied, "that's what you think!" where upon the Devil threw one of those stones at him and struck him on the heel. The stone stuck in the ground and is still there.

Stonehenge Fact 101. This is a place of pilgrimage for neo-druids and those following pagan or neo-pagan beliefs. The midsummer sunrise began attacting modern visitors in the 1870s, with the first record of recreated Druids practices dating to 1905 when the Ancient Order of Druids enacted a ceremony.

Here's more pictures of the Stonehenge.



Spending a good 2 hours there, I got a miniature model of the Stonehenge, not to mention some illustrated texts, not found in Singapore. I've struck gold!

Next up was the Town of Bath. The main feature - thermae. This was the word used by Ancient Romans for buildings housing their public baths.


Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centers of public bathing and socialization. Baths were extremely important for Romans, whom stayed there for hours and went daily. All in a nutshell, its your modern day gym, whereby the Romans, usually accompanied by a slave, paid their fee, entered, strip naked, put on sandals to protect their feet from the heated floors. After bathing, they exercised, and did things such as running, weight lifting and such.

Well, won't go deeper into the details and historical aspects, but do enjoy the pictures.





Leaving the Roman Bath, went into the central city of Bath for a walk. Unique terraced architecture, and steep slopes. And this is the famed Bath Abbey amongst the city centre.

Not exactly a place for me, walked around and stopped for a little ice chocolate by the fudge house. Yum. Yum. Yum. Handmade fudge.

Then it was time to head back to London. More countryside pictures for your entertainment.




Upon reaching Gloucester Road, took the tube down to Picadilly. Took an uberly long time at Soho. Walked down Leicester, Picadilly, Trafalgar Square, Oxford & Regent area before taking a bus back to the Southwell Halls at Imperial Collage.

There you go, the countryside, scenic route I took for the day.