United Kingdom

In an area slightly smaller than the State of Oregon, you'll find more history and beauty than you can comprehend in a lifetime. Experience some of the oldest and most famous landmarks in the world.

London

London is a masculine city of ever-erupting ideas and trends, scene of pageantry and display, home of thinkers and speakers, birthplace of English drama, where more than 40 theatres remain in operation the year round. Look out for Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, Parliament, Big Ben, Whitehall, Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London and much more.

Sightseeing tour with a professional London guide includes all the famous landmarks: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Palace and the area’s splendid museums, Knightsbridge with Harrods, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben beside the River Thames, and Westminster Abbey. Highlights are a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral and the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, if held.

Oxford and Stratford

After breakfast, board your coach for a full day excursion to Oxford & Stratford. Fifty-seven miles from London is Oxford, a city well over a thousand years old, the earliest colleges – St. Edmund, Hall, Merton, and Balliot – date from the 13th century. Oxford University consists of 28 colleges, five of which are for women. It’s difficult to decide where the university ends and the town begins – the scattered colleges, quads and chapels blend in harmoniously with workaday buildings, giving every street scene dreaming spires and domes.

Continue on to the small town of Stratford in Warwickshire, where Shakespeare was born in 1564, he returned to marry and live there after his wild and creative years in London had earned him the solid bourgeois he was at heart. You can trace his life story in Stratford, from his birthplace on Henley Street to the Shakespeare Centre, to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, to his tomb in Holy Trinity Church. You will also visit the Royal Shakespeare Theatre which occupies a perfect position on the banks of the Avon. There’s still an aura of Old Elizabethan England among Stratford’s timbered inns and 16th century houses with their oddly protruding upper story.

Stonehenge, Bath and Bristol

Begin your full day excursion to Stonehenge, Bath and Bristol. At Henry VIII’s lavish Hampton Court Palace enjoy your private visit to the Tudor kitchens and magnificent Great Hall; take a stroll in picturesque Salisbury with its vast cathedral, the ultimate in Early English Gothic; try to figure out the riddle of Stonehenge; in the elegant Georgian city of Bath see the amazing excavations of the Roman Baths.

Finally your orientation tour of Bristol focuses on Brunel’s daring Clifton suspension bridge, SS Great Britain, and the historic harbor from which John Cabot sailed in 1497 to discover America. Before dinner tonight join your tour director for a toast to happy touring.