Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Bath and Bristol
I'm going to make this fairly short, and hopefully at some point I'll catch up in time.
Gareth organised a trip for the two of us, plus Sha and Jas and Kylie (three Kiwi girls) out to the places mentioned above. We hired a car, and, after a few false starts, got out toward the Salisbury plain. We stopped at an old English pub in the middle of nowhere and had lunch, and were delighted when a local gentleman rolled up in an old Bently, but that's another story for another time.
Stonehenge is situated at the junction of two fairly major motorways, which might be fitting considering that it was originally situated at the junction of two roads. Possibly the motorways follow the path of the ancient ways that have wound their way across the Salisbury plain for millenia. Either way, I wasn't expecting much, because I'd been told that it was somewhat underwhelming, and the setting didn't give much in the way of hope.
I was wrong, and so was every person who told me that it wasn't much. The feeling of age was incredible. Looking at that awesome old structure was cool, and the size of the stones was truly impressive, but the best bit was to stand beside Stonehenge and look out across the Salisbury plain, and see that every ridge line is covered with barrows, marking the graves of the great and the glorious of the people of... no one knows who... I mean, if you want a feeling of wonder, go look at the burial monument of someone who was obviously worth the effort to bury in a grand fashion, but who was buried so long ago that no one is even sure what tribe he belonged to, let alone what his name is.
Driving on from there, we soon came to Bath, which was a cool little town in the very quaint English style. We of course went through the tour of the Roman baths, which were great. The water tasted terrible, so consequently must be immensely good for you. The best bit of the Baths for me were the curses and prayers, inscribed on metal, and cast into the spring in the hope that the goddess would grant them. What a way of preserving the pettiest parts of human nature for posterity! After the baths, we visited Sally Lunn's bread shop, at which I bought the most expensive bun I'm ever likely to buy, and then went and got lunch. Then it was time to push on, and head to Bristol.
Really, we just tacked Bristol on at the end cos it was close, and we had a bit of time left. It's a bit of a University town, but there are some nice features in the part that we were in. We just generally wandered around and had a bit of a giggle.
Gareth organised a trip for the two of us, plus Sha and Jas and Kylie (three Kiwi girls) out to the places mentioned above. We hired a car, and, after a few false starts, got out toward the Salisbury plain. We stopped at an old English pub in the middle of nowhere and had lunch, and were delighted when a local gentleman rolled up in an old Bently, but that's another story for another time.
Stonehenge is situated at the junction of two fairly major motorways, which might be fitting considering that it was originally situated at the junction of two roads. Possibly the motorways follow the path of the ancient ways that have wound their way across the Salisbury plain for millenia. Either way, I wasn't expecting much, because I'd been told that it was somewhat underwhelming, and the setting didn't give much in the way of hope.
I was wrong, and so was every person who told me that it wasn't much. The feeling of age was incredible. Looking at that awesome old structure was cool, and the size of the stones was truly impressive, but the best bit was to stand beside Stonehenge and look out across the Salisbury plain, and see that every ridge line is covered with barrows, marking the graves of the great and the glorious of the people of... no one knows who... I mean, if you want a feeling of wonder, go look at the burial monument of someone who was obviously worth the effort to bury in a grand fashion, but who was buried so long ago that no one is even sure what tribe he belonged to, let alone what his name is.
Driving on from there, we soon came to Bath, which was a cool little town in the very quaint English style. We of course went through the tour of the Roman baths, which were great. The water tasted terrible, so consequently must be immensely good for you. The best bit of the Baths for me were the curses and prayers, inscribed on metal, and cast into the spring in the hope that the goddess would grant them. What a way of preserving the pettiest parts of human nature for posterity! After the baths, we visited Sally Lunn's bread shop, at which I bought the most expensive bun I'm ever likely to buy, and then went and got lunch. Then it was time to push on, and head to Bristol.
Really, we just tacked Bristol on at the end cos it was close, and we had a bit of time left. It's a bit of a University town, but there are some nice features in the part that we were in. We just generally wandered around and had a bit of a giggle.
posted by Not My Former at 12:34 PM
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