London, Day Seven: Stonehenge and Bath

Today was quite the busy day. We got up at the early time of 7 am! I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten up that early since high school. We said a quick goodbye to my dad, who was heading back to the U.S. this morning and then scurried out the door to get to our tour bus for the day. We had an all day trip to Stonehenge and Bath planned for today.



With only a little confusion on where to pick up our coach at Victoria Coach Station, we made it with ten minutes to spare at 8:50 a.m. I got some pretty hard z's on our way to Stonehenge, our first stop. I usually don't sleep well on planes or buses, any form of transportation really. I was pretty exhausted from a late night of blogging though, so the nap time was more than welcomed.

Me, in front of our bus for the day

Stonehenge, which is in the town of Salisbury, is about two hours from London. Once we arrived, we were informed that we would have two hours to tour the place and meet back at the bus at 1 p.m. With this in mind, we decided we didn't have time to see the little museum by the main visitors center, but we did get to see the historical phenomenon itself, and I must say, it is breathtaking.

Stonehenge was thought to be built in about 2500 BC, which is the late Neolithic period, possibly by Celtic Druids (ancient priests that we're living in Britain the time the Romans arrived in AD 43).
The main theory is that this was a domain of the dead for the Celtic ancestors and a place to worship them. The giant stones weigh up to seven tons each and were thought to be brought from over 19 miles. Another theory states that they might have drug the stones over rolling timbers and down rivers to transport them. They also said something about bringing in blue stones from Wales that were thought to be special because they transported them especially far. They all looked grey to me though.

After we circled around the site, we hit the gift shop, grabbed some lunch from the cafe, and headed back to our bus, where we proceeded for another hour to Bath.

A view of the Avon river and the iconic Pulteney Bridge from our bus on the way into Bath

Immediately upon arrival, we realized that the allotted time of two hours was not going to be enough time to tour the city. We looked into to taking the train back to London instead and decided that that was the better option. So with that in mind, we told our guide that we would be skipping the bus back to London and headed off to do our own thing.

Our first stop was the Roman baths. This was quite a sight! I can't believe that these pools are linked to continually flowing hot water from a water spring way below the ground. That is just amazing to me!

A plaque explaining how the pools worked

The architecture was gorgeous and the pools were actually warm! I stuck a finger in to test it out but there was a lot of algae growing in them now. It is not a place you would want to bathe any longer. There was the main pool in the center of the complex and then there were two smaller pools off to the sides. They also had "warm" rooms, which served as saunas. The steam from the springs heated these rooms. It was like an ancient spa resort. Crazy.

Mom in front of the main pool on the upper level

You can't see me very well but I am sitting to the right of the pillar that is furthest to the right

 After we left the baths, we headed straight to The Pump Room, which was connected to the bath building. The Pump Room is neat because it was a popular tea lounge over two hundred years ago. I had just finished reading Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen for my literature class this past semester, which is set in Bath, so this room was especially exciting for me because the characters in the novel spent a lot of time socializing during tea in the very same setting. I loved being able to put Northanger Abbey into a visualization. It brings on an entirely new perspective of the novel, which was very exciting.

The famous Pump Room

Mom and I sampled the tea and scones while we were there. They were quite tasty if I do say so myself. We can't get enough of that clotted cream. I will miss it when we head home.

Speaking of Jane Austen, we decided to set off to the Jane Austen Center next, which was a little museum in a local house, dedicated to her life and works. Northanger Abbey is not the first Austen novel I have read and it certainly won't be the last. I decided this museum was a must-see for the budding fanatic in me.

Me next to a statue of Jane Austen

While I learned lots of things about the life of Jane (such as the fact that she was only engaged once and it was only for one day), really the most exciting part of the museum was talking to the girls that worked there. The two I spoke with were both college students at the local university, so naturally we had lots of things in common. In fact, one of the girls was the same age as me and also an English major with a focus on creative writing and wanted to go into publishing once she graduates, just the same as me. We had a wonderful conversation about books and classes and where we want to be after college. It was just glorious. I could tell we would be friends if we lived near each other.

After the Jane Austen Center, we decided we ought to look into an earlyish dinner and then head back to London. We came across a restaurant called Sotto Sotto, which I am guessing means 'basement' in Italian because the restaurant was two staircases below the ground in a neat cavern-like setting (and also the Spanish word for basement is 'sottono' which is strikingly similar).

If you visit Bath and like Italian food, be sure to eat at Sotto Sotto

I had the salmon in a delicious mustard-cream sauce and mom had the penne alla vodka, her favorite. It was a wonderful meal, down to the last bite. We rubbed our bellies the whole train ride back to town and went to bed as soon as we got home, exhausted from our long, yet extremely productive day.