Trip to Bath/Stonehenge

Finally! An exciting weekend! (and a blog not about school work!)

This weekend, my friends and I went to Bath and Stonehenge on a trip organized by the University travel agency. We took a bus to Bath, and since we had all had, ahem, a "long night" beforehand, the 8:00 am departure was a bit difficult. But we pushed through and pretended to be all smiles.



Also, while stuck on the bus, somewhere in The Midlands, we saw the bluest skies we've seen since we got here. Too bad we were stuck on a bus :(



Our first stop in Bath was the Bath Abbey. It was founded in the 7th Century and most of the current construction dates back to the 12th and 16th centuries. As my friends and I commented, there were tiles on the floor with inscriptions "older than America!" Also, the church was absolutely beautiful. It is one of the few remaining Abbeys of its kind that was not severely damaged during WWII. It was pretty awesome.




Next, we stopped at the reason Bath has such a funny name: The Roman Baths. 2000 years ago, when the Romans first took over England, they found the hot springs flowing through Bath and built a temple/bath house/gathering area. (Before that, it is believed the springs were used as a worshipping place of the Ancient Celts.) The Romans believed the waters had healing powers and that Minerva accepted offerings and gave her blessings from the steaming baths. What remains there today is the bath area (still untreated and as true to the Roman form as possible), the drainage system, and a museum that explains all the ruins that remain and how the Baths were used thousands of years ago. It was pretty neat, but we all (ESPECIALLY CHRISTINA) had trouble not diving into the waters to warm up from the frigid weather.




The next morning, we all rallied from our night out (which for Christina, Phil and I really meant sharing a beer and going back to the hostel to play Scrabble) and got on the bus to Stonehenge. Stonehenge was amazing. It's hard to really understand the size of the stones from pictures, but they were massive, and marveling at how in the world it was constructed, let alone the rocks that form it (which are from Ireland and Wales-many of hundreds of miles away) got there was awesome. Plus, getting to see Stonehenge was one of those life goals that I get to check off my list.




This weekend was a much needed a very welcome break from the stress of essay writing and general schoolwork, but now it is back to the books.

Much love to you all!