Stonehenge: Failure #2; and Bath

Yes blog-readers, you read that correctly. We almost made it to Stonehenge, but failed AGAIN.

Here's the story..

A group from Lander came on a spring break trip to London and for the last leg of their journey they stopped in Winchester and said hi to us and toured Winchester Cathedral. When they said they had a coach taking them to Stonehenge and then Bath, Emily and I decided to tag along and crash their trip! We must have brought bad luck because we hit traffic on the way to Stonehenge and got there at about 4:05, when the park closes.

 But Stonehenge actually is not what you expect it to be. I thought it would be in some remote location way back in the woods or something, but no. It is literally right next to the road side. I'm sure people pass it on their way home from work everyday. So we didn't get to go on the paths that get you about 40 feet or so from the stones, but we got close enough to take some pictures and still see the stones. However, I am determine to get up close and personal with those stones before I leave this country if its the last thing I ever do. I heard you can pay extra to go in the middle of them, but you have to be a card carrying druid to touch them. Card carrying? Who knew you could get a card for that-- and how would you? Is that like when people starting filling in "Jedi" under nationality in the US?

Then we hopped back on their coach (again, we were complete crashers.. thank you again for the free transportation!) The drive to Bath was absolutely beautiful. Of course, Emily and I were just winging it. We had made some reservations at a hostel online, well actually she let me make them. Mistake number one. Mistake number two- no clue where the place was and it was getting dark. When we found a map we were excited because it seemed like it was just three streets away. We were ill informed- the last street was over a mile hike up the biggest hilled street in the city- Bathwick Hill. We got there panting and freezing at the same time. It was a nice hostel, but NOTHING was included with the price of the dorm. No free internet, no breakfast included. I was not impressed. We had dinner that night with Dr. Craton and husband and his parents. I found out her mother-in-law was a chiropractor. Guess who got her neck adjusted!

The next morning we met up with Dr. Craton and she gave us a mini tour of the city. Bath was so beautiful. The architecture was different from any place Emily and I had been so far. I believe she told us that Bath is one of the best cities to get examples of Georgian architecture. Here is the Royal Crescent, and the girls who were on the trip that we crashed! Notice my arms around them. Ahh the power of forced friendship! The funny story was actually happening behind this picture. A family and this little girl kept running in and out of our picture. Once she stopped right in front of us. you know my Nottingham tongue got the best of me after a night of very little sleep. Let's just say I very politely encouraged her to move out of the way of our picture.  :)

The next item on the list was the main attraction of the city- The Roman Baths! The main Bath is said to be a tribute to the Celtic Goddess Sulis, whom the Roman refer to as Minerva. Even after the Roman invasion, the Goddess contributed to the city's name Aquea Sulis, which means 'water of Sulis'. Now the city is simply referred to as Bath. We went to what is now the museum/site of the baths. It was really cool because a lot of the remain architecture was excavated and is thousands of years old.

The Great Bath is the first one you see. Over time, the architecture around the main spring kept getting built further and further up as different people and cultures came into and occupied the city.

This is the Great Bath- but the Romans built a canal system (which was later expanded by others) that reached other rooms in the Bath Houses. There are even cold springs, which were used after people had therapeutic sessions in the hot springs. It is said that the cold water was good for closing the pores that the hot water opened up.







We were warned not to swim in or drink the water in the Baths, even though they were claimed to have super healing powers or something like that. But when no one was looking, you better believe I dipped my hand in that water. It was so warm! But other than that, I didn't really feel anything special. I got some very dirty looks when I took the picture on the left. As if millions of other tourist don't posed the exact same way.. Give me a break!

Another interesting fact is that in the days when the Romans occupied the city (which was in about 60 AD or so, at least that is when the temple was built) people used to come here to worship the Goddess Sulis and ask her for things. One common occurrence was that people would scratch curses onto thin sheets of metal and throw them into the Bath. Thousands have been excavated and translated. We read a few- most were over really small things. An example (in my own words): "Dear Goddess, someone stole my cloak. May they choke on their own blood and die a miserable death." I kid you not. They were hilarious. Here would be mine: "Dear Goddess: Please let all other volleyball teams I play drown in their own sweat, so that the Lander Bearcats may have a victorious season."

Looky here mother-- I took a nice picture next to the bath after all. After we left the Baths, which was around 1:30pm, Emily and I scrambled to get something to eat. But everywhere was packed to their maximum, even the places that had seating on three floors. It was miserable. All of the pubs were busy too because the Bath rugby team was playing on TV so people were watching. When we finally got something to eat we snarfed down our meals and desserts in less that 20 minutes of them being delivered. It was impressive. Both of our meals that day were rushed, so our tummies were unhappy with us. We wanted to do some shopping in the city before we left, but it turned unbearably cold. I thought my lungs were going to freeze. My lips were definitely blue, which is not a good look for me. So instead of shopping we had tea with Dr. Craton and her mother-in-law Deb at their hotel. I was introduced to clotted there. As Dr. Craton describes it: "It's as if whipped cream and butter got together and had a baby." It was dangerously delicious. I had it on everything I could- cakes and biscuits and scones! I was just looking for things to eat the cream on! After tea we caught the train back to Winchester. We were more than tired that night. But once again- THANK YOU to Dr. Lillie Craton for letting us spend so much time with her on her trip, and thanks to her and Deb for tea :)

And as always- THANK YOU to you readers- I know this was a long one! But I hope you like the new layout I figured out for my pictures! I don't know about you but I was super excited about it! More to come very soon!

<3 M