Trip to the United Kingdom Day 2 (11/06/16)

I woke up at 2am as I knocked out at 7pm+ the previous night. I started blogging about the first day, packed my stuff for a weekend trip with the family, slept a little more, took a shower and then we were off at 6am. It was really early but the sun was already up and it looked like 8am to me. The family had called earlier to book a taxi to bring all of us to the train station at 6am, there were some hiccups and the taxis only came at 6.20am. There was some tension when we were rushing off, I was crossing my fingers the whole time and was pleasantly surprised that the taxi ride was only 5min and we got to the station in time for the 6.30am train after all. 

Waiting room for cold weather just like Japan

Still early and the station was really quiet 

I really enjoyed train rides when we were in Japan, but I must say there was really a overdose of train rides for that day, we got to Manchester Picadilly station from Stalybridge in a short while and from there we transferred to another train heading to London Euston station. It was about 2.5 hours and we reached London at 9+. We transferred to the London tube and got to Waterloo station, where we took another long ride of almost 2hours to get to Salisbury. The snacks that the family had brought the previous day were really a saver, we had our breakfast on the train and they even brought cups for the bottled drinks.

Happy P and James fascinated with the gadgets again

They have activity packs for kids on board 

At Waterloo station, we had 50 min before the next train ride, so we went to get a preview of some famous sights around the station. At 10.20am, we boarded the train heading to Salisbury so that we can get to the nearest town to Stonehenge from there. We had an early lunch on board and it was sandwiches that Dan had prepared using the ingredients bought at the supermarket. Its really cost saving traveling with the family, but I felt bad as they had to carry all the heavy foodstuff on top of their own belongings.

The London Big Ben from across the river

The London Eye near to Waterloo station is long lost sister of the Singapore Flyer

At Salisbury, we walked around for awhile before finding our way to get to the Stonehenge. It was another nice little town with tourists milling around the town central. Unlike London, there were no high rise buildings and I prefer walking around these small towns more than the busy city. We found the Salisbury Cathedral while we wandered around the place, its a really grand building with very nice sculptures all around it, so we took lots of pictures there.

This looks grand enough but its not the main attraction

The grander Salisbury cathedral

Great workmanship on these sculptures

A random inn around the place and the building looked exquisite 

Road signs in front of the inn made the place looked so 'European'

I was feeling a little tired by that time, although it was only 1pm, we had an early stay for the day and long train rides. From Salisbury, we took a local bus to Amesbury, which is the nearest town to the Stonehenge. It is the cheapest way to visit the World UNESCO history site as tourists usually take up day tours from London as those are certainly more costly. We found a funky taxi aunty Jane at the quieter town and she drove us to the visitor center of Stonehenge. It was really fast and cost us only £12+, very soon we spotted the Stonehenge emerging from a long stretch of green grassland. We got really excited and noticed that at this point the taxi was moving more slowly as there was a long row of cars along the windy road leading to the heritage site.

The inter-town bus that runs every hour

First glimpse of the Stonehenge from far

Dan had been studying and living near London for most of his life but this is the first time he's visiting the Stonehenge, its a first for the whole family as well. The price of £17 per adult is kind of steep for some people, and they find it costly for viewing a pile of rocks. Its a good idea for them to visit Stonehenge with us for the first time and giving us a tour of London with the same trip. There's a big parking space filled with cars when we reached, it is next to the visitor centre where everyone get their entrance tickets and queue to board the shuttle bus to get nearer to the Stones.

My tickets and the simple guide book

The shuttle bus

There was a long trail of people and we walk in an anti-clockwise direction viewing the Stones from all angle and then leaving to board the bus again. Of course, we did it very slowly, spending more than 1.5h there. We've came a long way and that's a good reason to savour every moment we have there. The weather was pleasant but a bit too chilly for me, so I had my jacket on at Salisbury and never took it off.  The first part of the trail for viewing the Stonehenge was narrow but everyone got excited when they set their eyes on the Stones for the first time, therefore we took a long time standing there taking turns to take selfies and so on. I was certainly glad that it was not crowded like visiting the terracotta soldiers in Xi'An, there are many international visitors but the number is still quite acceptable, no need to squeeze here and there.

The first complete look when I got near enough

This part of the path is narrower and more crowded

Eventually, we walked on and realised that at the back of the Stones, there was a big grass patch and it was not crowded at all. There were lots of opportunities to take jump shots (P took from many angles) and individual selfies there, some even find that the Stones looked better from this angle compared to the previous point. The boys got tired by this time and we were all hungry, so we all sat down and had a nice picnic while viewing the Stones. Once again, I was glad that Jane and Dan made the effort to carry all that food around. The atmosphere was really great and quite enjoyable, I'll recommend everyone to visit the Stonehenge when they are in London and enjoy a nice picnic there, maybe except during winter, or maybe even during winter.

The view from behind

View from another angle

Finally, after a lot of fun and photo moments, we left the Stones behind to take the shuttle bus back. It was only 4pm but there was no queue and the shuttle buses were waiting for passengers. It was a long journey to get here, and we took a whole day, but it was all worth it. At the visitor centre, there was another exhibition area to explain where and how the Stones appeared at where it is now. It was really quite interesting and intriguing to know that the first stone had been here since 5000 years ago!

Me trying to move a stone at the outdoor exhibition area, it didnt budge

Mica with us

While waiting to leave the visitor centre, it started raining. Dan contacted Jane the taxi lady to come and pick us up and we were finally making our way to our hotel at Amesbury. It was a simple Travelodge but it looked comfortable enough for us to stay a night. We only had time to put down our bags and then headed out again as the whole group was feeling hungry, we really needed a early dinner. Dan was asking the taxi auntie and hotel staff for a nice place to eat (P asked for steak) and we decided to walk 2km+ to get to this pub call The Orchard. On Google Map it showed 30min of walking time, but I think we must have walked 45min as the road seemed to go on and on forever. Amesbury is really a small quiet town with no obvious city centre. We did not meet many people on the way and we only saw small clusters of shops here and there. I'm glad the weather is so cooling and this long walk was quite comfortable, giving us a chance to tour the truly 'English small town'. We finally reached the pub after much walking, I was expecting other cafes and restaurants next to it but there was only a food co-op next to it.

My dinner of fish cakes, prawn salad and fried fish fillet. Very yummy!

Jane's fish and chips

P baby back ribs

Dan's americano steak

Mica's dinner

Although the food took some time to arrive, the atmosphere at the pub was quite pleasant (more of family having dinner than drinking) and the taste of the food made us forget how long we had to walk to get there. The food came in big portions so we were really happy with our dinner. There was a 2-for-1 promotion going on at the pub so five main courses only cost £50++.

The small town was very quiet but the pub was half filled 

Glad to finally see the sign from far

Quiet and neat little town

After our dinner, it was still bright outside even though it was already 8pm. It felt strange to me and I only got used to it after a few days here, we also enjoyed the longer daylight to tour around. We popped around the corner to the food co-op and I bought a big bottle of shampoo (300ml) for about £1.50. The hotel only had shampoo/body wash in a dispenser and I wanted to get a bottle of shampoo after I saw how cheap the price was. Next, we went to a nearby playground that we passed earlier as Dan promised James that we'll go back there after dinner. The boys ran around happily and we had some fun too.

We had a go on the mini zip line

The big kids

We had much fun and Dan contacted taxi lady Jane to send us back to the hotel from there. We were all complaining that it was a long distance to walk and we did not want to do it again. The taxi fare only came up to £5 after we got back to the lodge. I was so tired that I could not wake up once my head hit the pillows again, I really wanted to take a good hot shower but my body was too weak to do so after the next morning. 

The Travelodge that we stayed