Day 1: Depart for London
Day 2: London
Your guide meets you at the airport & accompanies you to the hotel. This afternoon, an introductory walking tour takes you by some back alleys & famous places. Look out for Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament on your way to dinner tonight!
Day 3: London - Tower of London & Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
This morning, visit the Tower of London & discover its history of celebrity prisoners, executions & the crown jewels. A stroll over Tower Bridge & through Shakespeare's Southwark brings you to the crazy installations of the Tate Modern art museum. This evening, enjoy a theater performance.
Day 4: Windsor Castle, Oxford
A drive out of town brings you to Windsor Castle, the estate the Queen calls home. Maybe you'll be offered a cup of tea! Within the castle precincts, explore St. George's chapel, where you'll find the tomb of Henry VIII. This afternoon, the tour bus continues to Oxford, famed for its university & beautiful buildings. During our tour of Christchurch College, you may spot where Harry Potter was filmed! Dinner included.
Day 5: Edinburgh
Relax on the train as you travel north to bonnie Scotland. On arrival in Edinburgh, your guide will lead an introductory walk around town & during which you'll learn about the city's many literary & medical connections. You will also visit Edinburgh castle, perched high on a crag above town, & see the famous Stone of Scone, used in the coronation of Scotland's kings.
Day 6: Rosslyn Chapel & St. Andrew's
Rosslyn Chapel is utterly extraordinary & has found recent fame thanks to "The Da Vinci Code." After our visit this morning, it's off to Fife & St. Andrews, the spiritual home of golf. You will visit the castle & the awe-inspiring ruined cathedral. Later, tour the university, considered Scotland's finest, where Prince William recently earned his degree.
Day 7: Scottish Highlands - Dunkeld, Blair Castle, & Inverness
Leave Edinburgh & "call in" to (swing by) Dunkeld, one of the most picturesque wee towns in Scotland, as you drive north toward the Highlands. Today's highlight is Blair Castle & its sumptuous grounds. After your tour, you may choose to go pony trekking or off in search of Scotland's most iconic beast, the shaggy highland cow - pronounced "heelan' coo!"
Day 8: Scottish Highlands - Clava Cairns, Culloden, & Cawdor
This is a day of varied delightful & extraordinary elements. First, see the battlefield where the famous Bonnie Prince Charlie took on the might of Butcher Cumberland's army. Next, the Clava Cairns are Scotland's most mysterious prehistoric tombs, over 5,000 years old! This afternoon, visit the castle at Cawdor & go for a ramble in its grounds, forever associated with Macbeth. Then, travel down the banks of Loch Ness & keep your eyes peeled for Nessie!
Day 9: Scottish Highlands - Glencoe & Inveraray Castle, Glasgow
One of the most beautiful drives in Scotland takes you through Glencoe where the Campbells notoriously massacred the MacDonalds. Inveraray Castle is set in one of the most gorgeous landscapes imaginable. Perhaps you'd like to hike up the hills behind & get a stunning view over Loch Fyne. Alternatively, look round the shops in the wee town nearby. The absolutely charming Burrell collection, which contains everything from Impressionist paintings to Assyrian antiquities, is a highlight upon our arrival in Glasgow.
Day 10: Glasgow, Stirling
Today's guided visit through Glasgow will include a visit to St. Mungo's Cathedral & a workshop in the education center. You'll be able to engage with the challenging sectarian history of the city, which was once the second greatest in the British Empire. A change of scenery this afternoon takes us out to Stirling for our final castle of the trip, where the story of William Wallace, perhaps better known as Braveheart, will come alive.
Day 11: Return to the US