Travel Journal Entry May 31, 2012 or 400+ pictures of Stonehenge
On our tour to Stonehenge, we met George and Michael from San Francisco (very nice people though I worried that Michael was sick), several Canadians (8), some Americans (15), and one Aussie who was formerly Irish.
First stop was Stonehenge. Amazing, beautiful, and thought-provoking. (Editor’s note: yep, that was all I wrote, despite the fact over 400+ photos were taken. We had special access to the stones, which meant we could walk amongst them and come within millimeters of touching them – but no touchy! Part of me was disappointed because I wanted that wave of magic to wash over me; you know, like what happens in the romance books right before she gets thrown back in time. No time travel for me. But it was amazing and the sheer size of the stones and the fact that you got the impression this was built by very advanced people. The fact that some of the stones are from over 400 km away – how did they get them here? How did they get these massive stones to stand? And the tall stones that make up the first and third circles have bumps on them to fit into holes in the lintel. Fascinating! What was the purpose? Why are there 4 circles? Why is there a ditch always around stone circles? Supposedly from the sky you can still see the avenue people walked to get to Stonehenge. The first and third circle stones are different from the second and fourth circles. And they feel different – despite being in the same environment, you can feel a temperature difference between the stones. Was this significant? In case you are wondering, they have stones by the front gates that you can touch. I appreciated being able to get that close to the stones. It was definitely worth the 4ish am wake up call.)
Next we visited to Lacock (pronounced Lay-cock) where we had breakfast. It was okay - the smoked salmon is not cooked, the waffle was delish but riddled with sugar, and the eggs were a bit moist. Next time I’d do the English breakfast. Visited the house Dumbledore lived in and the graveyard from the Harry Potter movies. Whoot! (Editor’s note: this town does not allow cables and such to be run above ground so to maintain its authentic look. Thus it is used in many movies.)
Then to Bath to see the roman baths – interesting, but tired by then. As well, the audio reading was lengthy. Then we walked around the square – had London sorbet (yum!) from Thayler’s. (Editor’s note: wow – can you tell it was a long day and I was too tired for details? The baths are very interesting and again such an advanced society - the way they used the steam from the water to heat the floors in other rooms. Over 1 million litres of water comes into the place at 46C. You can no longer bathe in the baths or drink the water – it is very contaminated, especially considering they used lead pipes. But at the end of the tour you can taste the water after it has been filtered. It takes like heavily mineralized water, but warm. If it was cold, it would have been perfect with that icy bite that I love. Warm – it was a bit blech.)
During the ride home, we all pretty much slept. We saw Harrod’s, but were too tired to go shopping. Instead we went back to our area – found Boisdale Bar to eat at (Fortunes of War) where I had the Boisdale Burger and D had crab meat sandwich. Tasty! D tried a Spanish beer which was enjoyed.
Then back to the hotel to organize for the trip tomorrow, pack, etc. My sore feet finally showed the blister. Ow!
First stop was Stonehenge. Amazing, beautiful, and thought-provoking. (Editor’s note: yep, that was all I wrote, despite the fact over 400+ photos were taken. We had special access to the stones, which meant we could walk amongst them and come within millimeters of touching them – but no touchy! Part of me was disappointed because I wanted that wave of magic to wash over me; you know, like what happens in the romance books right before she gets thrown back in time. No time travel for me. But it was amazing and the sheer size of the stones and the fact that you got the impression this was built by very advanced people. The fact that some of the stones are from over 400 km away – how did they get them here? How did they get these massive stones to stand? And the tall stones that make up the first and third circles have bumps on them to fit into holes in the lintel. Fascinating! What was the purpose? Why are there 4 circles? Why is there a ditch always around stone circles? Supposedly from the sky you can still see the avenue people walked to get to Stonehenge. The first and third circle stones are different from the second and fourth circles. And they feel different – despite being in the same environment, you can feel a temperature difference between the stones. Was this significant? In case you are wondering, they have stones by the front gates that you can touch. I appreciated being able to get that close to the stones. It was definitely worth the 4ish am wake up call.)
Next we visited to Lacock (pronounced Lay-cock) where we had breakfast. It was okay - the smoked salmon is not cooked, the waffle was delish but riddled with sugar, and the eggs were a bit moist. Next time I’d do the English breakfast. Visited the house Dumbledore lived in and the graveyard from the Harry Potter movies. Whoot! (Editor’s note: this town does not allow cables and such to be run above ground so to maintain its authentic look. Thus it is used in many movies.)
Then to Bath to see the roman baths – interesting, but tired by then. As well, the audio reading was lengthy. Then we walked around the square – had London sorbet (yum!) from Thayler’s. (Editor’s note: wow – can you tell it was a long day and I was too tired for details? The baths are very interesting and again such an advanced society - the way they used the steam from the water to heat the floors in other rooms. Over 1 million litres of water comes into the place at 46C. You can no longer bathe in the baths or drink the water – it is very contaminated, especially considering they used lead pipes. But at the end of the tour you can taste the water after it has been filtered. It takes like heavily mineralized water, but warm. If it was cold, it would have been perfect with that icy bite that I love. Warm – it was a bit blech.)
During the ride home, we all pretty much slept. We saw Harrod’s, but were too tired to go shopping. Instead we went back to our area – found Boisdale Bar to eat at (Fortunes of War) where I had the Boisdale Burger and D had crab meat sandwich. Tasty! D tried a Spanish beer which was enjoyed.
Then back to the hotel to organize for the trip tomorrow, pack, etc. My sore feet finally showed the blister. Ow!
posted by Taryn at 8:20 pm
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