Stones and Liquid Red

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Hi there,

Well, we finally decided to venture further a-field than London for our weekly dose of sight-seeing and culture. The planned itinerary included Stonehenge and the historic city of Bath; one famous for its mystical and mysterious beginnings, the other for its healing and literary shenanigans.

We met the coach at some ungodly hour for a drab London morning, and settled in with Eddie (the driver) and Liz (the tour guide) for our exciting adventure. I was happily enjoying Liz’ witty and informative banter about Druids and such things, that we had arrived at Stonehenge before she even had a chance to finish her verbal thesis on incorrect solstice celebrations.

We hopped off the coach and headed for the ring of rocks. After collecting our audio guides (I think every European tourist spot has them), we wandered over to the ‘henge, walked around it, and got back on the coach. It was so cold strolling around and the audio guide really wasn’t any more interesting than Liz, so after 45 minutes, I was numb and none-the-wiser. After 5000 years, nobody still seems to know anything about them. Amazing stones man.

On we drove to Bath, passing through some of the prettiest countryside I have ever seen. Past thatched houses, ghost towns, canals and rolling hills. The funniest sight though was a paddock full of pigs!

We arrived in Bath and went straight to the Roman Baths for a tour. More audio guides allocated, we strolled the grounds pretending to be Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy and taking too many photos. We both stuck our hands in the bath after being told not too (we’re so naughty aren’t we?) however I didn’t see anything miraculous happen to my skin.

We went upstairs to the pump room and ordered ourselves a nice warm glass of fresh spring water (meant to clean our insides). “A glass of warm blood” is an accurate description of how it tasted. One sip was all we could handle.

More sightseeing - Jane Austen’s house, the Circus, old sandstone buildings, the shops and stalls and river, and it was time to head home.

A long, but pretty day. Bath and Stonehenge were both definitely worth the trip. England really is an easily accessible place from London, and hopefully a lot more weekend trips will follow. The next is November 18-20, when we head for Berlin - home of true punks, a knocked-down wall, bier and wurst. Mmmm, sausage.

I hope you are feeling ‘well’ on the inside.

Jude

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Photos

Stonehenge
Cold, grey, and still as mysterious.

Roman Baths
Impressive, but full of algae.

Bath feet
Feeling a healing through our soles.

Lounging by the water
Miss Bennett, anyone?

Mr Darcy
A true gentleman.

Sandstone houses
Houses in the round.

Bath River
It is such a pretty, picturesque town.