Stonehenge & Bath

As I stepped outside the door yesterday morning, I could just tell that it was going to be a good day.  The sun was shining and the air felt crisp.  Bailey and I briskly set off towards victoria station to meet our coach for our tour.  We didn't look at our departure point before that morning, and we quickly learned that that was a mistake.  Victoria Station has three parts; underground, train, and coach.  The coach station is in a completely different building, and when we got there we found a gate that looked like our tour and went there.  But it didn't feel right so I went back to look at the departure board and Bailey asked information for help.  That was the best move because they told us that our pick up point was on the other side of Victoria station in off street.  GREAT!  It was quite a fun power walk to get over there in time.

We did catch our tour, thank goodness, and by 9:10 we were on the road towards Stonehenge.  Bailey and I might have been the only Americans on the bus.  Everyone else was a tourist from other places in Europe.  The trip went very smoothly, and the view was incredible.  The English countryside is amazing.  It's green and full of life in all it's stillness.  What made it so beautiful were the rolling hills and the different shades of green that encompassed the land.  Really it wasn't too much different than Iowa country side, it just had more green than yellow.

My favorite pic!

When we approached Stonehenge everyone's head started to bob in anticipation.  Everyone wanted to be the first to see it.  This may sound strange, but it was both bigger and smaller than I expected.  The stones are of course HUGE and awe-inspiring when you think of how they were assembled, but the monument also took up less space than I expected.  We only had an hour there, but it was enough.  The openness of the field in which the stones lay and the fact that it was on top of a hill helped the bitter cold wind whip around the inhabitants who were on the walking path around the stones.  We were freezing.  It's a good thing we visited Stonehenge this year though, because in 2012 the site will be much more controlled.  People will only be able to see the stones from a small train.  LAME.  That's so much less personal.

After some coffee and a light snack we got back on the coach and headed towards Bath.  O Bath!  How I love thee.  As we drove up, I was shocked at how big it really was, and it was all beautiful.  Bath stone makes up 99% of the buildings in Bath and it gives the city a very elegant and cohesive look, which is so different from London.  In London adjoining houses may be made of different materials, and where your house may look good by itself, and your neighbors house might look good by itself, but together it looks really bad.

Part of the Circus.

Bath was also really different from London in a few other respects.  In Bath there is a lot of congestion, but it's limited to people congestion.  The sidewalks are crowded but the streets were not.  Motor transportation was not as prevalent.  There were also way more street performers in Bath.  I think that's because there is so much foot traffic.

Our first stop was at Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths.  We only had two and half hours in Bath otherwise I would have stayed longer at the Roman Baths, but I had other stuff I wanted to see and do.  The biggest thing was visiting the Jane Austen Centre.  It was about a half hour exhibition, and I was in heaven.  She is my favorite author of all time.  Surprisingly enough to me I didn't learn that much about Jane while at her center.  I seemed to know most of it already.  What was news to me was that fact that Jane didn't like Bath while she lived there for five years, and did basically no writing within the city limits.

The Roman Baths

Me looking pensively over the bath

There wasn't much time left after the Jane Austen Center so Bailey and I walked around for a 20 minutes and made our way back to the coach.  We got to see the sunset over Bath from on our ride back and it was breathtaking.  Sadly my camera lost battery power and I didn't really get a good shot.  Our tour guide also pointed out the Welsh border.  So no I can say that I have seen Wales.  Our ride back was an interesting one.  There were a group of six Indian tourists sitting behind us, and the four males decided they wanted to sing the whole way back.  Other than that it was a great trip and Bath is now one my new favorite places.  There will be a small update to follow this one.

Sunset as viewed from the coach.

Pip Pip Cheerio!