Londra

I can't believe I got to go back to London!  I 1st visited 10 years ago and fell in love.  It's such a beautiful city with so much history.  Matt and I were supposed to take a trip together a few years ago but that fell through.  I'm sad he couldn't come with me this time.  Monday through Wednesday were crammed with business meetings but I finally got to do some sight-seeing yesterday.

There have been plenty of times through the years when I've been ambivalent about being a working mom but when I get to do something like this, I say a little "thank you" to myself for gutting it out through the hard parts to get to this stage of my life & career where it feels like things are coming together. 

I started my all-day whirlwind tour at Windsor Castle.  It wasn't really on my "must see" list but I'm so glad I went.  It's really beautiful and I got to see Henry VIII's surprisingly subtle grave inside St. George's chapel.

The original keep from the days of William the Conqueror.

St. George's where Harry & Megan are apparently getting married shortly.

Leg two of the tour was a trip to Stonehenge.  I have wanted to see Stonehenge for so long!  My obsession intensified after reading the Outlander books, which feature some pretty crazy time travel through similar stones.  I really wanted to touch the stones and see if they buzzed like in the books but alas, you have to keep your distance now.  Our tour guide told us that back when he was a kid they weren't really considered special and you could drive and walk right up and climb all over them.  Crazy! 

I got so many amazing shots; I really struggled with which ones to post here.  The sun kept peaking out from the clouds and making gorgeous reflections on the stones and shadows on the grass.  It was pretty cold so I could only stand about 20 minutes outside before I had to head back. 

This one is currently my desktop photo.

And this is their best guess as to how these stones were carried all the way from Wales to Stonehenge!  They think about 100 men pulled the stones one by one.

On the way to Bath our guide pointed us Peter Gabriel fans toward Salisbury Hill (to the far right)!

Bath, the 3rd destination, was pretty cool too.  I had no idea that the name of the town came from the Roman bath itself... in retrospect, duh!  The museum itself is really cool and shows the path of the natural hot spring and how the water was channeled through the various pools within the structure.

Some of the original channels still run under the ground.