It stopped a few more times to pick up more tourists and we eventually headed out of London. Our tour guide was excellent. He kept up a running commentary that was really informative and better than anything I've heard so far. He had so much knowledge and made everything out our windows interesting even in the semi-dark. We headed first to Stonehenge. It was very foggy this morning, probably because it had been clear that night, and all the fields looked moorish as the misty morning dawned.
We stopped at a gas station and picked up a little more breakfast and some tea (since all the coffee here is espresso, americano or latte and I can't take any more lactose filled milk). I also found a very British Coke bottle in the mini-mart and one just for Nicole.
Finally we were close to Stonehenge and there were mounds of earth called barrows which contained a single human burial. They were buried in the fetal position in the early Neolithic period and there are also long barrows which contained whole generations of a family. The remains have been removed, but were common during the time of the creation of Stonehenge. With the early morning tour we got to go inside the circle of stones. There are two stone circles which have different types of stones in them. The inner circle is made of bluestones, which turn blue when wet and retain the heat of the day, staying warm late into the night, and are not a type of stone found on the Salisbury plain. They believe the bluestones were transported from Wales, about 240 miles away. The outer circle is made of sarsen stones, a type of sandstone, which are huge and were probably transported about 20 miles to the Stonehenge site. They do have one of each of those types of stones at the visitor's center that you can touch and the sarsen stone was really a much softer stone. You aren't allowed to touch or stand on the stones when you are at the site, just take pictures and appreciate it. There is 24 hour camera and guard security so that people won't come and deface or damage the stones as has happened in the past.
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| The bluestone (that Mom's touching) and sarsen stone behind it at the visitor's center |
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| Our guide |
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| Lichens that take years to grow (and why you can't touch the stones) |
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| The Heelstone |
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| Neolithic and more recent graffiti on the stones |
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| The dagger and axe, graffiti from the Neolithic period |
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| One of the sarsen sandstones. You can see how easily it erodes. |
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| Trying to huddle behind a bluestone for warmth |
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| Some of the stones have degraded and actions are being taken so no more fall. |
It was pretty amazing and...cold. In that misty weather I was freezing. We walked around and took a bunch of pictures and decided which were our favorite stones. There are birds nests up in underneath the top stones that lie across the standing ones, which I found entertaining.
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| The only ones allowed to touch the stones are the birds... |
We were unable to go in the gift shop there at Stonehenge because overnight someone had rammed something large into the shop window, breaking it and stealing the cash they had. That meant it was a crime scene and while we were there the crime scene investigation vehicle drove in.
Next we were driven to Lacock a medieval village with houses that have no modern alterations. It is used very often in movies needing rural English country village scenes and has been seen in BBC's Pride and Prejudice and Cranford and in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. As we drove out of Lacock our tour director pointed out the house that was used as the house Professor Slughorn was hiding in as an armchair, but I didn't get a picture of it. We ate a full english breakfast at the George Inn and it was really delicious! I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much considering when you write out the meal it sounds kinda gross. A full english breakfast includes the normal scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sausage and bacon and then also includes beans, mushrooms and tomatoes. The beans and mushrooms were really quite good! I avoided the tomato because I just didn't think I'd like it.
Afterwards we strolled thru the town taking pictures and visited the town church. Every church we go in is so beautiful and inspiring, it's sad that in America we are often so spare with our design. I've noticed that every country town we go pass has at it's center a church, which isn't surprising, just quaint.
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| This was the house used for Harry's parents' house (before Voldemort blew it up, of course) |
Our tour guide said every english town has at least the following three things: a church, a pub, and a market. All the towns we passed today also had at least one inn because they were on the old road to Bath, which took 3 to 4 days to travel to from London. We also stopped at the grounds of Lacock Abbey, which is still a working nunnery. They had sheep just grazing wherever they felt like and it was so picturesque! I was hoping to get some pictures with sheep and got to check that off my list. You could see that the sheep weren't up around the main lawn of the abbey, but there wasn't a fence to keep them out. What does keep them in the pasture is a very old feature called a ha-ha, which is a stone wall built into the landscape below view that the ground slopes down to making a barrier that they won't cross.
Back on the bus we drove deep into the county of Somerset and the Avon valley. One surprise that I wasn't ready for was driving over Box Hill. In Emma by Jane Austen a whole party of people is gathered to travel to Box Hill which supposedly has the most amazing views. It certainly did! After driving on a plain for many miles you come to a view of the Avon valley that allows you to see for miles. Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the bus and got pictures through the window on the other side.
Eventually we drove down into Bath, which was much more hilly than I'd thought. The whole thing is built up a hill that provides excellent views for those living in the many apartments there. We drove down Sydney Place and saw number 4, where Jane Austen lived the longest of her times in Bath. (No picture there either...we drove very quickly.) We were dropped off and taken to the Roman Baths which Bath is of course famous for. This is the only place in England where there is a natural hot spring. The water is forced to the surface so quickly that it will fill a bath in 8 seconds. We went in and took a picture of the main bath, but left as we only had an hour before the bus took off.
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| The Roman Baths |
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| The Pump Room |
I had really wanted to go to the Jane Austen Centre so we got directions and headed there quickly. We turned the wrong way initially and then I saw it and we walked back towards it. Before we headed back I took some pictures of the apartment buildings there in Bath. We couldn't make it to the Royal Crescent, but it was something.
Walking down to the Jane Austen Center there was a gentleman out front in Regency attire. He welcomed us in and we went to the gift shop to look and possibly get tickets to the exhibition. Unfortunately the tour would take to long for us, so we shopped instead. I got a wax seal, quill and ink and parchment, my two favorites Austen novels (Pride and Prejudice and Emma) that had pen and ink illustrations in them, a few bags and a lace fan.
As we left I had my picture taken with the only gentleman I'd found in England!
As we strolled back to the meeting place we stopped in at a baking shop. I'd been hoping to get some metric measuring spoons and cups since some recipes I find online use those measurements and the conversion isn't always quite right. Doing some more window shopping on the way back I saw a shawl in a window that I liked so I went in to try and find it. Getting a shawl was on my hoped-for list, but when I went to get it they didn't have one like the one in the window and I didn't care for the others. I asked if they could get me that one from the window, but it was at the far end of the display and she said no. It never hurts to ask. Mom and I picked up some gelato and sat in the square where our bus was going to pick us up and it was pleasant to sit and enjoy the surroundings while eating. I had on my raspberry colored jacket and it was pretty easy for others on our tour to spot because more than one group of people would point or wander over. We had a few minutes left before the bus was to be there so I walked down the street to take pictures of the Pulteney Bridge, the covered bridge there in Bath.
It was very warm that day in Bath and thankfully the bus was air conditioned. We all loaded up and headed back to London. I got a few pictures of the Avon valley, and though not from the real Box Hill, they were beautiful nonetheless.
All through this trip we would snooze. I'd try to stay awake to hear the guide's commentary because it really was so informative and interesting, but his voice was so soothing that I'd soon be asleep. Mom too. We'd only had 4 hours of sleep so sue us! We snoozed all the way back to London and found out that we wouldn't be dropped off within walking distance of our place on the return trip. We had to jump on the Victoria line from Victoria Station to get home. Mom didn't have her Oyster card though! It had been left in the pocket of the shirt she was wearing last and so we had to buy single tickets to get us home. We made it back around 5 and got to eat some dinner and relax just a bit before heading for bed.
Fun Observations of the Day - There was a cat at the George Inn that just wandered around freely.
It was a pleasant reminder of home and how much I love my pets. I bought hazelnuts on the street in Lacock, but I'm not sure I can get them home. Mom's favorite thing while we've been here is the London Evening Standard newspaper. You get them for free at any tube line and they are really quite fun to read, just the right mix of news and gossip. Today's paper had the headline that Kate is expecting her second child. Pretty cool to be here for the announcement.
Step Count - Carrie: 14332 steps, 17 floors climbed Cindy: 12556 steps, 17 floors climbed
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