Photo Tour: Bath/Stonehenge/Salisbury

Guess what?! It's time for another photo tour. You were missing them, I know.


Lettuce begin. We all got up at 6:00 am and shipped off to Bath, England. There we explored the Roman baths before staying at the YMCA for the night. (Wait, they have the YMCA in England? Yes, yes they do!) 

Doesn't it look inviting?

There's me, about to jump in.

Romans used to write curses and throw them into the baths,

but only when people deserved the wrath of the gods.

Old school heated floors. These Romans knew how to live.

(The wood has rotted away, but a fire was lit near the base of the

stones to warm the floor above.)

So that was cool. Afterwards, we were allowed to explore the shops surrounding the old Roman buildings.

That's right. A store devoted to men. We're so lazy.

Also, because these group trips are supposed to be educational, we are required to visit at least one historical institution. The Girlfriend and I decided to go to the Jane Austen museum near where she used to live.

Who knew Jane had such awesome hats?

That's where Kiera Knightley's script was written.

So after rooming next to Boy Scouts for the evening, we woke up and went to view some delightful Henges. (Stonehenge isn't the only one.) This part of our trip was frustrating for me. People only have theories as to how (and why) Henges were built. Usually large stones, weighing upwards of three tons, were dragged from a valley many miles away. The stones were then erected into the ground. How prehistoric peoples managed to do this is beyond comprehension. It is assumed, though, that tree trunks were used to roll the stones, and deer antlers were used to dig appropriate foundations. Not surprisingly, it took many years to complete these tasks, which are comparable to that of building a Cathedral. At any rate, it proved to be quite an awe-inspiring trip.

We first stopped at Avebury: a bigger Henge than

Stonehenge, though it was built later with smaller stones.

Everything is big near the Henges. Even the checker boards.

Group heading toward the inner circle of Avebury. (There were

once over 400 stones, though few are still standing.)

After goggling at giant rocks which looked like they would topple over, we moved on to a burial ground. There were several of these in the surrounding landscape, supposedly for people who worked on the construction of the Henge.

Everybody in the crypt. Yo.

The mound.

The Girlfriend being all pretty.

In hindsight, it's amazing that I didn't get a lot of sheep in these pictures. Sheep: lawnmowers of the United Kingdom. Sheep poop= land mines of the United Kingdom.

Anyway, THEN WE WENT TO STONEHENGE YAY HERE ARE SOME PICTURES LOOK HOW MYSTERIOUS IT IS!

Our audio tour mentioned that some of the stones point to where

the sun might be at the summer and winter solstices.

So... potential sun-worshiper temple?

Girlfriend and me being touristy.

We stayed at a pretty cool barn for the evening. They had guinea pigs! And trampolines! Unfortunately, I was too sick to enjoy any of it. (But I did take some pictures...)

Some farm landscape.

Guinea pig! He looked kinda cold outside.

Don't worry, I'm almost done! Finally, we visited Salisbury Cathedral. Most people know it because it the oldest medieval cathedral in Europe. Also, the novel Pillars of the Earth, was based of of its construction.

So picturesque.

I barely got the top of that.

There were at least 100 of these statues on the

outside of the church. It kind of made me wish for

an outdoor tour.

Indoors!

Example ceiling and reverse arches.

Purdy blue windows!

And then we came home and ate take-out because we didn't have any food in our refrigerator except for the potato salad I made which was actually really good okay that is all have a good day!

THE END

Yours,