Bath and Stonehenge

Stonehenge

             Today we went on a coach ride to Stonehenge and Bath.  It took almost two hours to get to Stonehenge.  When we got there, it almost looked just like a few fields and some rocks, except for the people.  We got audio guides to tell us about the history and myths about it.  I listened to almost the entire guide, it is kind of hard to pay attention when you are trying to take pictures and stay out of everybody else’s pictures.  It is pretty amazing how many myths there are about it. 



A closer look at Stonehenge

Supposedly, these ancient people carved the inner circle of rocks out of some mountains in Wales.  They are called blue stones because if you broke them open, they are blue and white speckled.   The outer circle was from nearby. Still, somehow in the Stone Age these people whose only tools were deer antlers, and cow shoulder bones, manages to get these huge rocks there and into a circle.  They also dug a giant ditch around the outside of it.  The whole thing is sitting on the top of a hill overlooking a lot of the surrounding area.  It really seems like it has a really cool purpose, we just don’t know what exactly.  It might have something to do with the sun.  There are several mounds around that are supposed to be where these ancient people are buried. 

Me at the Roman Baths

The Main Bath



The Head of Minerva

            After about forty-five minutes on the bus, we arrived in Bath.  First we mostly just looked at the abbey, then we actually got to go into the Roman Baths.  Basically there are three main baths.  The main bath is huge and you can see it from the upper level before you go down.  You have to go all through the museum part before you actually get to go to the Baths.  In the museum, they have a lot of sandstone with writing on them, I assume it was Latin.  There is also this head of Minerva.  The main bath is in the shape of a rectangle.  There are columns around and sculptures of people on the top.  You can see how they channel the water into the Baths as well.  Basically there is a supply of warm water in bath, and the Romans took advantage of it and made a healing spa.  The other two baths you cannot get very close to, but one of them is round.  It is in the dark, but you can see that the bottom of it sparkles.  The other just looks old.  You can’t see much of it at one time, but it has a lot of arches and such.  I wish we could have actually gone out to see the whole thing. 

Another Bath



The circle drive

The Royal Crescent

Well, other than the baths, we went on a tour and say the first circle drive, with the buildings divided into three parts.  There are acorns along the roofs, something to do with pigs.  Supposedly, Nicolas Cage had a house here, but I heard that he had to sell it.  J Depp also has a house in bath near the circle.  Then we went up to the Royal Crescent, and saw how they tried to make this house look like a country mansion, putting a nice huge lawn out front, and building a fence, called a “ha ha” to keep the animals out.  After the tour I had a few minutes, so I watched this street performer for a while.  He was an American.  First he ate fire, and then he was playing with this thing on a string, I forget what it was called.  He was going to juggle knives, but I had to go. 



            It took two and a half hours to get back to CAPA.  It was nice to finally get back to the flat, after twelve hours of buses and tours.   I bought some stuff too, a ring from Stonehenge, and a owl and gladiator from bath.