Science & Literature: London and the West Country

Step outside your hotel for a stroll through the heart of the English-speaking world. In this city of nearly seven million, you'll see everything from 12th-century fortifications to modern skyscrapers, royal parks to street art. Your Tour Director will lead you to some of the most famous sites. Walk along the Thames River. Cross Trafalgar Square. See bustling Piccadilly Circus. Pass trendy shops and cafés in Bohemian Soho on your way to Covent Garden, a 13th-century fruit and vegetable garden transformed into a maze of narrow streets and pedestrian walkways burgeoning with street performers, open-air markets and boutiques.

See Trafalgar Square, often used for community gatherings and political demonstrations.

Visit the National Gallery, which contains an unrivaled collection of Western art spanning seven centuries, from the late 13th to the early 20th. The largest portion of the collection is devoted to the Italians, including works by da Vinci, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto and Botticelli; but the collection also features works by the Spanish giants El Greco, Goya and Velázquez. The Flemish-Dutch school is represented by Brueghel, Jan van Eyck, Vermeer, Rubens and Rembrandt; and there is also an immense French impressionist and post-impressionist collection that includes works by Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir and Cézanne.

Visit Piccadilly Circus, a shopping and entertainment area brightly lit with video displays and neon signs.

Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, which itself may be referred to as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centered on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Leicester Square is perfectly situated in the heart of London's West End, with Trafalgar Square to the south, Piccadilly Circus to the west, Covent Garden to the east, and China Town to the north.

Nothing’s more British than fish and chips—there are eight fish and chip shops (“chippies”) for every McDonald’s in the country. Head to an authentic pub with your Tour Director for a taste of this national food, generally served with malt vinegar.

Following your cruise on the river Thames down to Greenwich, let your tour director take you on a walking tour of Greenwich located in South London. See historical sights including Greenwich Market, Old Royal Naval College, National Maritime Museum, the Cutty Sark tall ship and the world-famous Greenwich Royal Observatory. Enjoy some free time in one of London's greenest areas.

Take interactive learning to another level with a tour director-led STEM-themed scavenger hunt through the city of London. Take part in this adventure, complete exciting activities and solve fun clues. Each clue and every activity is built to maximize on-tour experiential learning.

Visit prehistoric Stonehenge, built in 3,000 B.C. The mysterious monument of four concentric rings of hefty stones is believed to have been a sacred place of worship or some type of calendar.

Visit Salisbury Cathedral, one of the finest medieval cathedrals in Britain. It is well-known for having the tallest spire in the country, which we may climb if we wish. Our visit will be highlighted by the cathedral’s 13th century octagonal Chapter House, which displays the finest of four surviving original texts of the Magna Carta.

England's most fashionable spa town in the 18th century, beautiful, Georgian-style Bath was where the society set headed to "take the waters" and attend the theaters. But the spa scene began bubbling long before then. The Romans built baths here between the 1st and 5th centuries to capitalize on the area's natural hot springs. A professional, local tour guide will lead you to the Roman ruins, some of the best in Europe. But keep your clothes on! Your tour continues to the remains of the Medieval abbey church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (built on the site of a nunnery from the 670s). Look up at the fan-vaulted ceiling. Step back outside to see the ornate west front featuring relief sculptures of Jacob's ladder. Continue to Pulteney Bridge, built in the 18th century after the style of Florence's Ponte Vecchio. As in Florence, shops line the span.

Explore the extremely well-preserved Roman Baths, first associated with the Celtic King Bladud, and later established by the Romans in the 1st Century. Step into the Pump Room, a set of elegant chambers built above the old Roman baths. The core of the Pump Room is the Grand Chamber, which looks down onto the old Roman Baths.

Discover the Jane Austen Center, a permanent exhibition located in a Georgian townhouse dedicated to the life of Bath’s most famous and beloved resident. Austen made the city her home and her love for it is reflected in two of her novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, which are largely set in Bath.

Study the interdependence of plants and humans with a visit to the Eden Project. With enormous greenhouse domes housing diverse plant life from all over the world, you can go from Mediterranean to a tropical rainforest all in the same day! Interactive exhibits will help you learn about Earth's ever-evolving ecosystems.

Become a geologist for the day! Discover the geological story of Southwest England’s dramatic Jurassic Coast and how it records the global events that shaped the planet as we know it today. See rare fossil specimens recovered and conserved by local specialists and learn about prehistoric life from a long-lost age. Receive expert guidance on how to recognise fossils and then walk the beach to seek out some of the spectacular examples preserved at this World Heritage Site.

Explore the Sherlock Holmes Museum. Located at 221b Baker Street, this was the home of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from 1881¬-1904 and is arranged as it’s described in the novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.