My oldest son's school facilitated a trip to London over Spring Break, and since a few of his friends and their moms were also interested, we decided to join the fun. My son and I took a slightly earlier flight than the rest of the school group so that we could choose our own seats on the plane and have a chance to shower and change before the tour officially started. When we landed at Heathrow, we found the AA arrivals lounge and it was amazing. We had time to get refreshed and change in a private bathroom, and then enjoy breakfast.
Once the rest of the group arrived, we hopped on our shuttle bus and headed to the city. We stopped by Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard and visited Parliament Square. We ate lunch at Covent Garden Market and then checked into our hotel in Kensington. We got to rest for a bit before having a group dinner at
The Greyhound. Then it was lights out to prepare for the busy day ahead.
First on the itinerary for Day 2 was a visit to
Windsor Castle. There is quite a lot to see at this site, so it was nice that we could enjoy it on a self-guided tour at our own pace. Weather was a bit chilly, so hot chocolate was a must.
From there we headed to Oxford, which was one of the high points of the trip for me. Our guide was incredible and I did not realize how little I knew about this town and university system. For instance, Oxford University is roughly 40 different colleges. You can apply to a particular college, or submit an open application. Each college has its own dining hall and some of them require formal dress. (Yes, some of Harry Potter was filmed at Oxford). Almost half of all students at Oxford are from a country besides the UK. For those admitted from the UK, the tuition is shockingly low, under $15K USD. Learning about the class sizes and instruction, and how the testing and graduation works, was really fascinating. I highly recommend this tour!
We got to enjoy some shops around Oxford before heading back to London for dinner at
Cote. My watch recorded 18,000 steps and 8 miles of walking this day!
