Day 7 - Rail Trip

Today we road the rails from Windsor to Salisbury, England. It took 4 trains and 2 hours and it was a great trip. And why are we in Salisbury? . . . No, it is not becasue 2 of our children graduated from Salisbury University in Maryland, it is becasue it is the closest town to Stonehenge. This is someplace I have always wanted to visit so we thought we would give K&B & Abby some time to themselves and take a couple of days to tour the country side. The English train system is fantastic. We got off one train, walked across the station and caught our next train within minutes. Luck? Don't know but we didn't wait more than 10 minutes at any point. And the trains are amazing! They look new, they are clean, comfortable, have bathrooms and snack service. A person comes through the cars with a cart like on an airplane, selling sandwhiches, drinks, snacks and pastry. Amazing! I may spend the next few weeks just riding around the country eating and drinking.
Once we arrived at Salisbury Station we walked into town and wandered around trying to get our bearings. Kyle had given us a map and we did fairly well but after stopping at a pub for lunch we headed for the information bureau in the center of town to get pointed in the right direction.(NO, we did not have any beer for lunch so that isn't the reason we needed to get directions!) At the info station we met Simmon, an adorable Englishman who was so kind and helpful in setting us on the right path to the B&B where K&B had made reseervations for us. (They had made this journey with Abby a week or so before we came over so they gave us good pointers and recomended this wonderful place to stay.) After a long walk along the River Avon we arrived at the B&B, checked in, rested and then walked BACK into town. (I cannot believe the amount of walking we are doing but the blisters on my pinky toes are living proof.) We wandered through the town just looking at the people and the shops and then returned to Simmon for a recomendation for a place to eat dinner. He actually remembered us from the afternoon but didn't invite us to dinner at his house as Ger suggested. He did send us to the HAUNCH OF VENISON. A haunted pub with a restaurant on the second floor. WE did take a picture but you will have to wait for us to return to Windsor before I can down load it. The place was GREAT and the food was wonderful. Ger had lamb with yorkshire pudding and I had a venison stew. The atmosphere and the food were terribly English, in a good way. After the pint of beer and the dinner we just couldn't walk another step so we took a taxi back to the B&B where we have crashed for the night.
Tomorrow we will walk back into town to get a tour bus out to Stonehenge and go back in time some 5,000 years. I guess we will have to fill up on a big English breakfast before we leave in case we get lost in the past. Until tomorrow . . . Cherrio