Time

chapter 11

The next morning I woke up bright and early and got myself ready for our tour of Stonehenge. I had barely got all my stuff together when I heard frantic knocking at my door.

I opened the door finding a bright eyed and bushy tailed Anya at my door "well good morning sunshine"

"Morning!" She said prancing into my room in a fit of excitement "come on! Come on! Let's go!"

"What's your rush? We still have time. And I'm hungry" I said grabbing my phone, wallet and room key

"Fine" she said rolling her eyes "first breakfast then we get going" we walked out of my room and down to the dinning hall of the hotel.

After a amazing but pretty rushed breakfast -- thanks to an overly excited and impatient Anya, we made our way back to our rooms and gathered our backpacks and tour passes before heading to the tour bus stop.

Within ten minutes of the bus ride Anya had already made friends with just about every tourist on the bus. Most of which came from different countries but like the true blue social butterfly Anya is, the language barrier didn't bother her one bit. I guess excitement is a international language... I kept my video camera running and so did my fellow tourists.

We passed many pastures and open fields as we toured along on the bus, we even saw herds of sheep grazing and minding their own business. Finally we got to our first stop, Windsor Castle.

We toured the castle where, apparently, the queen still visits. Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside the building but that didn't stop Anya from talking my ear off with trivia about everything we see. Not that I mind. I could listen to her voice on loop 24/7. It really was a beautiful building inside and out. After visiting a few more buildings -- still no photography allowed -- we went to a small time square that was full of tourists and street performers. I tried to document as much as I could both with video and photos.

"Demitri come dance with me!" Anya ordered as she pulled me into the crowed forming in front of a guitar playing street performer.

I barely had time to safely pack away my camera and drop my backpack with Anya's before she had me dancing with her like we were the only people on earth. I've missed having moments like this with her... I'm gonna miss these moments with her. I watched her slender body move to the rhythm of the music and the genuine happiness spreading over her features has always been the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. She must have noticed me staring 'coz she grabbed both my hands and started swinging my body in sync with hers. Once I got a hold of the rhythm I twirled and danced around in circles with Anya laughing and genuinely having fun. But our dance was cut short when our guide announced that we will be moving on to our next destination.

We grabbed our gear and piled onto the bus ready and excited to get to Stonehenge. The bus roared in excitement all the way to our next stop and the buzz didn't stop when we followed our guide off the bus and towards the huge stone structure. Once again Anya was just full of trivia about this structure, like how it was believed to be built for sun worship or something. The excitement she shows for everything she sees reminds me of a kid at Christmas.

We were left to wonder by ourselves for a bit to take pictures --- which we did --- and posted some selfies on instagram. I personally liked the one we took when Anya threw her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek at the last second. I hope I don't blush too badly in the photo.

Soon it was time to head back and the excited buzz that drove the day's events was unmistakably dampened. And the rain didn't help much. But once again true to her happy nature, Anya started singing to Justin Timberlake 'can't stop the feeling' and before I knew it everyone was singing along. Anya and some of our fellow tourists were dancing along in the bus. I captured every moment on camera, laughing and smiling at the happiness Anya brings to every situation. That's how we spent the rest of the trip back, singing and dancing to the radio.