I woke up bright and
early to get ready for my day trip to Bath and Stonehenge today at 6:45am. I had to be at the bus stop by 8:00am so I
stopped by the local convenience store to grab a sandwich for breakfast and
caught my bus on time. It took 2 hours
to get to Bath; once we got within 15 minutes of Bath, the tour guide notified
us and highlighted some of the areas in the valley that we were driving
by. From the bus I saw the town of
Bristol and the suspension bridge that connects Bristol to Wales! After the bus driver dropped us off in Bath,
the tour guide gave us a 1.5 hour tour of the city and then set us off own our
own for 3 hours before we met back up in downtown Bath to head to Stonehenge. Here are some of the highlights of our tour
guide led Bath tour:
*Bath was built by the Roman Empire.
*Every building in the city is built with the same
rock from the quarry outside of town.
*The Roman Spas are located underneath city of bath.
*Bath became a popular tourist attraction after the
discovery of the hot water spas in Bath and
people traveled
from all over Europe to the spas so they could be healed of their illnesses.
*Jane Austen lived in Bath and the area outside Bath
(Are you excited yet Sarah?? Haha.)
*The River Avon flows through the city and in the
Celtic language, Avon means river so actually,
the river
that flows through Bath is called the River River.
During my free time, I
went to taste the hot water from the Roman Spas…it’s not that great! Also, I went to an Irish pub for lunch and
then browsed the shopping area and picked up a few souvenirs; afterwards, I
arrived early at the meeting point and stepped into another pub and ended up
watching soccer of all things during the Olympics...YUCK! When I arrived at the meeting point with
everyone else, I started talking to a lady on the bus from Australia. She and I also sat next to each other for the
rest of the trip and made the rest of the day fly by. She is visiting her brother for 5 weeks since
in Australia, once you work at the same location for 7 years, you get a fully
paid 6 week vacation. She’s been saving
for 2 years for the trip which also included stops in Ireland and France, but
doesn’t have to spend any money on accommodations since she is staying with her
brother. He moved from Australia 30
years ago on a one year temporary teaching assignment but ended up getting
married to a local girl in Cambridge and he hasn’t left since.
When we arrived at
Stonehenge, it was out in the middle of nowhere. It was about 45 minutes from Bath. Our tour guide gave us a 45 minute intro
about the history and myths about the origins and purposes of Stonehenge. Here are some highlights:
*Over 5,000 years old.
*Created during the Meolithic and Neolithic eras
during the prehistoric culture
*Stones were pushed by hand from the areas around its
present location and the rocks were
carved using
animal bones.
*It is aligned with the midsummer sunrise and
midwinter sunset but its exact purpose is still a
mystery.
*New archeological discoveries have concluded that it
was also a burial ground.
The bus ride back took
2.5 hours and I couldn’t wait to get back to Cambridge because I was starving
since it has been almost 9 hours since I ate lunch at the Irish Pub. I was so hungry that I went to Pizza Hut to
get a personal pan pizza for dinner because it was quick. This isn’t the only time I’ve eaten at an
American restaurant since I’ve been in England – I also have eaten and Subway
and Burger King, but it’s not the same taste as back in the USA!
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