Wiltshire & Oxfordshire [England, UK]

We toured more places in Wiltshire today! We started at Woodhenge, a henge right next to Stonehenge. It was on the way to our next destination, Old Wardour Castle. Old Wardour was home to the Anne Arundell, wife of Lord Baltimore who founded the Maryland colony. Anne Arundel County in Maryland is named after her. Afterwards, we headed up north to Avebury, a World Heritage Site containing a large henge. We then went further north to visit the White Horse Hill, an interesting outline of a horse cut into the chalk soil at least 2000 years ago. We ended the day at Great Coxwell Barn, a 13th century barn that has a cathedral-like elements. This barn is in an episode of Downton Abbey, though we haven’t gotten to the particular episode yet.

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A Winter Day at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

We headed to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens after lunch today. It was snowing a bit when we arrived, though it was too warm for any of it to stick. At the gardens, we saw some flowers that had been planted. A few trees were beginning to bloom, perhaps a bit earlier this year due to recent warm weather across the region. As for birds, we didn’t see too many, mostly a few Canada Geese near the entrance and quite a few American Crows flying around.

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The Tower of London and the Thames

We headed out this morning to visit the Tower of London right when it opened at 10am. We spent about three hours there before having a quick lunch and visiting the adjacent All Hallows by the Tower church. We then crossed the Thames via the Tower Bridge and walked west by the river. We eventually crossed the Thames again via the Millennium Bridge. We missed the ferry by just a minute or two and ended our day by taking the Underground.

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