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Published: January 23rd 2009
Roman Baths and history
Great Bath, Bath Abbey, adjoining buildings and 21st century businesses.In only two days our amazing European adventure will be over. Before that though, let's go to a little place I like to call...episode fifteen!
After spending far too long on the internet in Oxford we headed back to the car and told Miss GPS that we wished to travel to Bath. She obliged and directed us out of the venerable university town and along the two hour route to the ancient city famous for its, well, baths. We arrived at our hostel around 7pm having driven around the streets of Bath for a while - Miss GPS knew where she was going but unfortunately the driver didn't - and after dinner at the hostel we planned our movements for the following day and headed to bed.
After helping ourselves to yet another buffet breakfast we packed our full-to-bursting-point backpacks and piled into the car. We drove into the centre of Bath to visit the ancient Roman baths, relying on Miss GPS a little too much. While she took us to exactly where the baths were, she didn't count on the fact that there was no parking within several kilometers of the World Heritage Site and that the streets
Mmm...steamy
Fancy a dip in algae-infested waters? of Bath are truly labyrinthine - we must have driven down every single one-way street and back alley in Bath in order to find a parking spot. Eventually we did find a parking space, in an undercover parking garage, and we walked the couple of blocks back into town.
I would implore anyone that is in south-west England to come and visit Bath's Roman Baths if they get a chance. While the upper level of the baths complex was rebuilt in the late 19th century, the Great Bath is an original Roman construction dating back to the second or third century AD. Not only is the Bath and the surrounding area the way it was back in Roman days, but so are the lead sheets that the Romans used to line the bottom of the bath as well as the lead pipe that they used to carry the Bath's overflow back into the hot springs. As you enter the site you are given an mp3 player of sorts which acts as an audio guide as you wander around the complex, and one of the options is to listen to commentary provided by the famous travel writer Bill Bryson. As you
Water fountain
I do love tasting iron for three hours after drinking a glass of water. stand on the platform above the Great Bath he makes the interesting observation that you have an amazingly large span of history opening out in front of you. Below you are the baths dating back to the second and third century AD - longer if you consider that the Celts used the hot springs well before the Romans - to your left you have the reconstructed buildings that adorn the baths complex, which were built in the late 19th century, across the road you can hardly miss the Bath Abbey, initially built in the 7th century AD and later rebuilt in the 10th, 12th and 16th centuries, and to your right, the 21st century businesses that line the streets of the town.
Visiting the baths was certainly one of the highlights of the trip but tasting the water that is pumped out the hot springs was a far less enjoyable experience. While certainly not green in colour like the baths themselves, the spring water was warm and so thick with minerals that it was a real struggle to get a whole glass down. Sure it may be good for you, but any glass of water that you are still tasting
three hours later doesn't get my vote.
After wandering around the town for a while and finally grabbing something to eat we jumped back in the car and headed east. We had booked some accommodation in the little seaside village of Milford-on-Sea but before we got there we had one more World Heritage Site to visit - Stonehenge.
While the site truly is just a bunch of rocks in the middle of a field near a major highway it was certainly worth the visit. The audio guide took us anti-clockwise around the site, giving us potential explanations for the existence of the site. While several possible theories were put forward it would seem that scientists and historians still don't have a clear picture of exactly what it was built for. You can't help thinking that there must have been a fairly good reason to have built it, given that piling 14 tonne rocks on top of one another isn't something you would do just for fun. That aside, it was still quite a sight to see.
After we completed our orbit of Stonehenge we headed back to the car and drove the hour and a bit south east toward Milford-on-Sea,
Shaz-henge
Notice the awesome shadows. all the while listening to Barrack Obama's inauguration on BBC radio. After checking it at the South Lawn Hotel we drove the 500 metres (it was raining I swear) into town and enjoyed a couple of lovely Guinness pies for dinner at the local pub.
The following morning we wandered downstairs and helped ourselves to cereal and fruit for breakfast. As we sat down the waitress came over and asked us what we would like for breakfast. Sharon and I looked at each other, and down at the bowls from which we were eating, before the lady explained that a full English breakfast was also included - you know, eggs, bacon, sausages and all that sort of stuff. Needless to say, we took advantage of the offer while chuckling to ourselves as we listened to the other guests sitting around us, talking in hushed and extremely posh voices. We couldn't help feeling like we were a bit out of our league.
After finishing our breakfast and waddling upstairs, we packed our bags and drove down to the beach. We walked along the rocky shoreline and I thought briefly about going for a dip until I remembered that I was
wearing four layers to protect me from the cold wind, and that stripping down to just shorts was a less than smart idea.
While back at David & Jackie's place we had organised to drop the car back somewhere in London and having been stressed at the prospect of driving through Carlisle I didn't really fancy tackling central London traffic. So with the aid of the lovely GPS lady we found a Europcar outlet on the outskirts of the city. As we pulled into Woking around an hour after leaving Milford-on-Sea we realised that we were probably a little further out of town that we had planned, as our needing to take a regional train service into London would attest to.
Speaking of the car, it was sad to see it go. We had become used to being able to go wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and given Europcar's apparent stuff-ups, it had turned into a fairly economical option. As avid readers of the blog will remember, the lady at Europcar's Edinburgh branch forgot or neglected to charge us the £14 per day 'driver under 23 years old' supplement. In addition to this, upon dropping the car off in
Pistachio time
Someone looks a little guilty! Notice the bin on the bed for disposing of the empty shells. Woking, the gentleman behind the desk must have assumed that we had already paid for the extra days that we had organised back in Halifax. Not so, but I wasn't going to correct him.
After hoisting our by now too-heavy bags onto our backs, walking to Woking station, paying £25 for 20 minutes on the train, changing trains at Waterloo and negotiating the Tube to get to Kings Cross St. Pancras station, we arrived at our last hotel for our European adventure. The guy thought he was very funny giving us the room in the furthest wing of the highest floor of the building but we didn't share his sentiment, almost collapsing under the weight of our bags as we finally fell into our room.
After another great English pub meal and a pint, we internet-ed it up for a bit before playing some pool and then retiring to bed.
Yesterday morning started with a slow get-up, followed by a spot of breakfast at the nearby Da Vinci Cafe and some washing. Eventually, at about midday, we were ready to see some of London. We headed over to Kings Cross station (yep, we are living on a monopoly board
Milford-on-Sea
Not a grain of sand to be seen. - Euston Road runs right outside our hotel and Pentonville is two minutes walk away) and bought a couple of day tickets before heading toward the main sights. We wandered around for hours, checking out Buckingham Palace complete with the changing of the guard, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Downing St (blocked off to the public but we did get a photo of the street sign), the London Eye, London Bridge and the Tower of London. While we didn't go inside any of the main attractions, deciding that we would rather spend the £25 per attraction on something that we really wanted to do, we had an awesome time just wandering, getting a feel for the place and getting some cool photos. The Parliament Buildings and Big Ben are truly amazing to see and their architecture makes Canberra's Parliament House look like a garden shed.
After heading back to the hotel for a bit of R&R (after walking around the city and climbing the steep steps inside the hotel as well) we caught the train one stop down the line to Angel station where the closest cinema to our hotel is. We bought tickets to see 'Australia', reveling in the irony
Buckingham Palace
It wouldn't be London without wet and miserable weather. of it all, then went and grabbed yet another pub meal.
The film itself was quite enjoyable. It seemed as if the Aussie accents were a little bit over the top and if Hugh Jackman had said 'Crikey!' one more time I would have thrown my shoe at the screen. Nicole Kidman got on my nerves a little bit with her over-acting as well, but other than that it was quite enjoyable. It certainly doesn't pull any punches when dealing with the racism of the time or the sad story of the stolen generations, and while it made me proud to see our country showcased in a major film, I felt embarrassed and truly sad about white Australia's terrible, and oft-forgotten history.
It is wet and miserable in London today, just for something different. We have spent the morning on the internet, out of the cold, but this evening we are heading to the West End to see Les Miserables. While the tickets were about $120 each, I'm not sure how many opportunities we will get to see a show on the West End and given that it is a show as great as Les Mis, I couldn't pass
Westminster Abbey
So how come the Milan Duomo is free, and yet entry here is £13? up the opportunity.
Well, I guess we are coming towards the end of this episode, and indeed the blog in general. We are in London for one more full day and then we fly out on Sunday night, arriving at Tullamarine at 7:15am on Tuesday morning. We will write one further blog entry, upon arriving home, about the last couple days of the trip and giving a bit of a wrap up of the trip. There have been plenty of funny and otherwise memorable moments throughout the trip that haven't made it to the blog and we will include some of them in the final installment, episode sixteen.
Until then, thanks for reading, and we will speak soon.
Matt & Sharon
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Sue Carmusciano
non-member comment
Thankyou, thankyou
Thanks guys for allowing us avid readers of the blog to share your journey in such detail. You have been extremely generous with the time and effort you have spent on this wonderful journal. Matt, you truly have a gift for the written word, which has made reading the blog a real pleasure. So I'm sure I speak on behalf of many other readers - thankyou for the virtual holiday! Have a safe trip home.