Stonehenge and Bath

  Bath, England, United Kingdom
Friday, July 25, 2008

Another amazing Kristen and Beibei adventure today! It was our day off so Chris took us to Plumpton Station for the 7:33 train this morning.  It took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to Salisbury which is the base point for Stonehenge.  From the Salisbury train station, we got the bus that took us to Stonehenge.  We've been having a debate about whether or not to even go to Stonehenge cuz some of the Brits we've been talking to think it is just a pile of rocks and there are better places to go to while others say it is worth it.  We figured since we're tourists, we'll do it anyways!  Stonehenge had a little audio guide that you could listen to as you circled it and it had a lot of "we thinks" in it cuz no one can be too positive about the origin and use of it.  Basically, the thing is dead old and is an amazing feat considering the tools they would have had to use.  It can be used as a calender because of the way the sun comes through the rocks. It was cool to see and was surrounded by the beautiful English countryside so I'm glad we went!

We stopped for a quick 15 minute look around Old Sarum on our way back into Salisbury.  It was the original Salisbury.  It was used like a thousand years ago by Saxons and Normans and people like that and there was a castle there.  We didn't want to spend the time or money on it though so we didn't go in.

Once back in Salisbury, we walked over to the cathedral and looked around the outside of it. The steeple is leaning over and is like 2 feet off balance but you can't really tell cuz it's so big.

Beibei and I took the 1:40 train from Salisbury to Bath.  It is only about an hour ride.  I'm so tired today after only about 4 hours of sleep last night so I was completely asleep on the train.  It was a good thing Beibei woke up just as we arrived at Bath Spa train station or we would have completely missed our stop!

Our first stop in Bath was of course the famous Roman Baths. They have a lot to look at there and an audio guide that talks a lot about it.  The baths were used like 2000 years ago and continued for quite some time.  The water can still be seen bubbling to the surface from far beneath the earth.  There is quite a number of rooms that were used there and the people that went to bathe there might stay all afternoon and have it be like a social gathering.  There is a room like a hot sana, the warm baths, a cold one, etc.  We spent a good hour there and it was very interesting!

Following the baths, we walked around the city. We passed Jane Austen's house, saw the Royal Crescent which is a super huge building shaped like a crescent that faces a park, went by Pulteney Bridge which is a bridge that has shops on both sides of it, walked around the Bath Abbey which is another beautiful cathedral, and passed Sally Lunn's house which is the oldest house in Bath.  Overall, I would say Bath is one of the cutest English cities I've seen that is just fun to walk around.  Super cute!

We got on the 5:13 train back to Plumpton so we will be back in a couple of hours.  We'll have to make a few train changes on the way.  Then we'll be back for our last day of work tomorrow!

England Pictures:
6/27/08 - 7/1/08 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5892&l=d4548&id=1022010001
7/1/08 - 7/9/08 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5895&l=4db83&id=1022010001
7/9/08 - 7/12/08 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5902&l=70663&id=1022010001
7/12/08 - 7/16/08 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5905&l=962b3&id=1022010001
7/16/08 - 7/22/08 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5909&l=c56b8&id=1022010001
7/22/08 - 7/26/08 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5914&l=74de8&id=1022010001
7/26/08 - 7/28/08 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5916&l=2f8ca&id=1022010001