Stonehenge and Bath

Elizabeth and me!

The bath where you throw in coins and make a wish

The Great Bath

I spent yesterday (Saturday), traveling to Stonehenge and Bath. I wasn't that excited about Stonehenge except for the fact that it was a famous place, and now I can say that I've been there. It didn't cost me anything to get "in," although you can see it from the road, so thank goodness I didn't pay to see a big pile of rocks! There was a ton of traffic on the way there, so by the time we got there, we only had about 20 minutes to walk around it and take pictures. There was an audio commentary to listen to, but I didn't really have time to listen to most of it. I did learn that 1/3 of each rock is below ground, that the rocks have been moved a few times over the past 5 thousand years, and that they are set up in such a way that the sun shines through each arch during the corresponding month. So, on June first, it shines through number 2 (or something like that), but in July, it shines through arch 3. It is almost the summer solstice, and on that day the sun shines in a particularly famous way and makes a beam of light shine on some important rock in the formation. So....there were people starting to camp out for the big event.

Bath was pretty cool. We got to tour the Roman baths. It was so dark underground that it was hard to see anything or take good pictures. The Great Bath outside was the easiest to see. The water was a terrible murky green color, and it looked putrid. For 50p (50 pence), you can taste the water! No thanks!

Then I walked over to the Jane Austen Museum in town. It cost money to go inside, and it was only a museum about that time period, and didn't have any of her personal belongings, so I figured it wasn't worth it. I did spend some time in the gift shop, however, and enjoyed looking at all the objects you can buy that says, "I love Mr. Darcy," I bought a few postcards, one with Colin Firth on it; a replica of the drawing that Elizabeth sees in Pemberly and has to admit out loud that he is handsome.

It was a long day with tons of walking and 4 hours on a bus, but overall I really enjoyed it. Today I'm going to a different, more contemporary church. More to come!