Bath

So, I have been negligent of my blog, and for that I apologize. As many of you already have figured out, about a week and a half ago, we made our first weekend trip to Bath and Stonehenge. We were nervous about being able to leave, because Wolverhampton had a 'major' (for Wolverhampton 2" is major) snowstorm in the few days before we left. We were all (Heather, Justin, and I) looking forward to getting out of town though, because the rareness of the snowstorm left people a little nutty, throwing snowballs, and eggs (one of which managed to bounce off of Justin and explode all over my coat, resulting in a desperate search for a dry cleaner). In any case, when we finally left, Saturday morning, I was happy, despite needing to trek through the slop on the roads, to get out of town. (Let me remind you that because the two inches was so significant, the city had no real feasible way to take of the white stuff.) Luckily, once on the train, everything went smoothly, with the exception of a short delay in Birmingham, and a noisy family on the bus.

Once in Bath, we found our hostel, and headed inside to check in...easier said than done. Apparently there was a rugby match, leaving the pub below our hostel packed, and impossible to get through to check in at the bar. It took a while, but we checked in, and dropped of our things in our 12 person room, then headed out to find some food. Unfortunately, because of the game, every pub was packed, and subsequently, every place with a cheap meal. We finally found a Pizza Hut, and settled for some good American fast food, and some shelter from the rain that was now falling. After we were sick of the Pizza Hut, we decided to venture out, and explore a bit, which didn't last long, because of the weather. Luckily, the hostel had a living room type place in the attic, with lots of movies, and internet access- needless to say, we opted to stay there until we were ready for bed.

We headed out early on sunday, taking advantage of the continental breakfast at the pub downstairs (whose coffee was questionable at best), before heading out to the Roman Baths, despite the rain. The baths, are really more like ancient spas, a luxury only available 2000 years ago thanks to the natural hot springs in the area. It was incredible to see the roman aqueducts and drains still working 200o years later! The complex was enormous, and there are so many artifacts left over that we can still see. There was a counter where, for 50pence, we could taste the water. It was nothing special I promise, but nonetheless, something I suppose we had to do. Supposedly it gives you good luck, which was why it was so popular in roman times...because of its healing power...but I don't know about that, since I stayed pretty sick the rest of the weekend.

After the Baths, and a quick lunch, we headed off on our tour to Stonehenge. The drive was really pretty, and we stopped at a small town called Lacock, which had an old abbey, and is supposedly where Harry Potter's parents house was filmed or something, it was cute, but small. Once we got to Stonehenge, I was pleased to see that it was exactly what I had expected- a bunch of rocks in a field. Not to be cynical by any means, but every poster and printing of Stonehenge depicts it exactly. It was cool to see first hand, and amazing to think that it was build so long ago that we don't even know why...but nonetheless, it was rocks...in a field. It was worth seeing, but I don't know that I would ever really feel the need to go back. There really is nothing around it, but grass, rolling hills, a lot of sheep, and a small tourist shop and ticket counter. After taking probably 75 photos of the rocks in different angles in different lights, and listening to the audio tape headset, which every destination in Europe seems to provide,we headed into the little shop, where they had everything you would ever need, including a do-it-yourself origami scale model of Stonehenge. If it wasn't so damn cold and windy out, it would have been a toss up as to which was more amusing, the shop, or the rocks.


Monday was our last day in Bath and we reserved it for a free walking tour of the city, and some shopping. We made it to the tour by 10:30, and followed the delightful older man around in the mist for about two hours, seeing all of the sights, including the house where someones cousins uncle once lived, or something...really this guy knew it all. Despite the sometimes meaningless fact, the tour really was quite enjoyable, and it was interesting to see how the city had evolved since the Roman times. Once our tour finished we made our way to the Bath Abbey which is in the center of the city and where most believe the first King of England was crowned! We got in for free, because the man collecting "donations" felt bad for us poor college students and we wandered the church for awhile. After the brief tour of the abbey we grabbed some lunch and walked around several over priced stores, and starbucks. (this part I'm stealing from Justin- sorry) By 3:00 we were completely bored and very tired, so we grabbed some pre-made sandwiches from the supermarket for later and headed to the bus station to catch and early bus back to Bristol (which has a brand new station) to wait for our bus back to Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Once the bus finally arrived and loaded at Bristol, about 30 minutes late, the 2.5 hour bus ride from hell began! Lets just go through the list:
- switching seats with a couple with a baby
- kids screaming and jumping over the seats
- a group of people (who made the bus late to begin with) yelling across the bus at each other
- after be so nice to switch seats, the drunk Scottish ex-con woke up and talked the whole way (even with headphones on!)
- 20 min smoke break after being on the road only an hour
- not getting to Birmingham to catch another bus till 10:30pm
But, we finally made it home safe and sound to our beds which could never have looked sooooo good!

In general our first trip was success, I wish I hadn't gotten sick but it was successful. Hopefully, by this weekend, I will have my camera, so I can post some picture of the exciting places we have seen!