Anyways, today was the big Stonehenge and Bath trip. It was rough enough waking up at 7, but on top of that my shower didn't have hot water. Pretty miserable.
The bus was late naturally, so everyone crowded into a tiny Starbucks around the corner from me (Strawberry and Creme for me) and I met some people that I ended up spending most of the day with. I sat next to Tim on the way there and back, he's a photography major so I told him about how I'm a professional photographer, and Heidi, who is a PR major, making her a journalist's best friend/worst enemy. I hung out with their group the entire time, and I even met a girl that writes for the Focus section of the DePaulia (whose name I don't remember. I never know if I'm just meeting a person for a second and then never seeing them again or if I'm going to be with them all day. I was with her all day. Whoops.)
But after about 40ish minutes in the bus (we had a terrific guide that told us things to look at outside the window, including where Paul McCartney married Linda right around the corner from where I live, and neat little facts like how the Brits would all turn their lights off in their homes during the blitz, but the Germans could still see the Thames and would be able to bomb because of that, so the Brits called the Thames the 'Traitor Thames.' We drove through some areas devastated by the blitz and been rebuilt, sort of makes the war more real.)
Stonehenge is very much a tourist area now. There is a street not more than 100 feet or so from it and a visitors center. Sort of took away from it. After hearing about and seeing pictures of Stonehenge for my entire life, I was pretty excited to see it in person. It was even the last level in "Cruisin' World" and there were aliens above it. So this was a big deal.
I have to say, I was somewhat disappointed and impressed at the same time. Stonehenge is literally rocks out in the middle of nowhere. But then again, the pyramids are just blocks piles on each other, and Yankee Stadium is just bricks. So I mean I should have expected that. I thought they would be bigger, and I really wished I could have walked around between then and get a real idea of how massive they were, but they had it roped off from about 50 feet away all around, and the tourists gathered around to take their pictures and leave. There were a few burial mounds around the area but that was about it. There's only so long that you can look at rocks from a distance. But I guess you could say that to the Grand Canyon as well.
However, the fact that there was absolutely nothing around there made it rather impressive. It's not like there was a Giant Rock Store right next to it 3,000 years ago. It's all very flat land - farm land in fact (I saw pigs and sheep) - so to get these rocks from somewhere (weighing 80 tons, I think Dennis would describe that as 40 elephants) so it truly is an impressive sight to see, especially if you take a minute to get away from the crowd and imagine people actually making them.
We didn't have a long time to look at them, probably about 40 minutes (again, looking at rocks) so we were soon on the way to Bath. I didn't know much about Bath, it's one of those places you hear about in passing but without any idea of what it's all about. Bath was founded by the Romans because of their natural springs, which they created a temple around and would bathe in. Time went by, the Romans left, and in the 12th century the Normans found the springs which were coming up through the ground and Roman ruins. Come the 18th century, Bath was completely rebuilt (and probably about 90% of the buildings are form the 18th century) and it became a popular place for rich people to visit (Jane Austin lived there for six years with her family.)
The funny thing was they didn't know there were Roman ruins under the bath until about 110 years ago or so, about 20 feet below where they had the floor level. The ruins are relatively complete, about five feet up from around the bath level, and then the new structure is built on top of it. It was also much bigger, with many rooms also excavated. The springs are still there, the Roman pipes still work, and the water around 100 degrees. People would still bathe in them as late as 1979 until the waters became infected with meningitis and a girl swallowed some water and died five days later. There are newer baths that have opened, but not Roman.
I took a free tour of it with three other people, which was pretty good. Tours are always worthwhile compared to the headsets. I threw a penny into the Roman water where they used to throw paper with curses on them. Then I went up to the Pump Room, a restaurant in the bath complex, and tried some of the (meningitis-free) water. It was very mineraly, not particularly tasty.
From there I wandered about the town of Bath. It was sort of like walking back in time, there has hardly been any development. The town is incredibly gorgeous, almost like a Disney park with the consistency of the materials and the ornateness. It's what you think of when you think of old Victorian towns.
I stopped and had some homemade ice cream (white chocolate with chocolate malt balls) at a place opened since 1850. It was right up there with Ray's and the Winger's waffle cone.
Down in the park, I saw a father and son throwing around a baseball, the fist sign I've seen of anyone over here having any idea about the sport. I assume they were transplanted Americans. Bath is a much more family-orientated town than London, where it's a lot of young business people and not many families. I really enjoyed bath, but I can't imagine there being too much more to see than I did in the few hours I was there.
We rode back, and most everyone slept on the bus. From there me and my new gang went to the Golden Eagle pub, an old-feeling place with wood paneling on the walls. We just sat around and talked for a couple hours about music, journalism, and the Tower of London, which I'm the most excited to be going to by far tomorrow.
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