Bristol, Bath, Wales, Cottswalds

I just finished a wonderfully busy week and I was out of London for most of it. We left for our class trip on Tuesday morning. The first day we looked at Stonehenge and Avebury Circle. Stonehenge was obviously incredible , but so was Avebury Circle, which most people have never heard of. It is also an ancient rock formation. It consists of two big circles inside of one giant circle. A small village has been built around and in it. We had a tour around these stones. It was pretty impressive. How in the world did these people move several ton pound rocks around? And how did we get the detailed information we have about it now? My favorite Stonehenge theory is that giants placed the stones there long ago...haha.

We continued on to our hostel after our stony adventures. We stayed in a really nice youth hostel in Bristol, right on the Avon River. Our room had a shower and a bathroom. Not bad for my first hostel experience. But I know not to ever expect that from a hostel, from what I hear at least. My friend, Sam, and I woke up early the next morning to go running. It was fun to be able to explore the town a little bit and run up the river. We got a little bit lost, which kind of stressed us out. We had to be back and ready at a certain time to catch our bus. Then, to make matters worse, I fell down some old stony steps and got pretty scraped up on my knee and hands. Poor Sam felt horrible for me, and so we’d stop and she’d ask for directions every so often, while I’m gushing blood out of my knee, probably grossing people out! It was kind of a funny experience. The story ends well. We make it back in time for a complimentary breakfast and we catch the bus to Bath!

I had been looking forward to Bath for a while. Bath is what Jane Austen always writes about in her books. It’s the place all the posh people go to for vacation. I wanted to know why. After visiting, I’m not really sure why it’s such a resort town. There are natural hot springs, but did Jane Austen character-like people actually swim in them? I picture them eating out, shopping, and attending dances. I can’t really think of much else to do there. The town was charming. There were hardly any modern buildings, except for the mall and the new Spa building. The famous Royal Cresent and the Circus are in Bath. These are both residential areas with unique architecture, because they are built in the shapes of circles or half circles. They were fun to see. The best part about Bath was something I didn’t even know Bath had. The Roman Baths. The whole reason Bath is called Bath. Duh, Lindsey. They found several Roman built Baths and foundations, artifacts and temple remains. When the Romans occupied Britain 2000 years ago, they found this natural hot spring and channeled the water into several swimming pools and baths. This was a place to come and worship the Goddess Minerva (who they believed created the spring), to be healed (some baths had special healing powers), ask Minerva for help or for revenge or for anything, or even just to recreate and play. The foundations are all still there. It was crazy to walk on ground that people walked on 2000 years ago. Ancient sites are impressive and I can never quite comprehend how old they really are. It all feels so unreal. I feel like I’m at Disneyland half the time.

After Bath, we went back to Bristol for dinner where we found an incredible Thai food place, called Yum Yum Thai…does that remind anyone of another of my favorite food places?? (Yo Yum Yum frozen yogurtJ!) Four of us got two plates to share and let me tell you: Green Curry is amazing. So amazing that we went back the next night and I ordered the exact same thing. And I was just as impressed and happy with my meal the second time. Kelley…can I request a meal for your CA blog? A green curry dish? It had mange tout, which is a type of pea, I guess? coconut milk, sweet basil, chicken, some other veggies, and I don’t remember what else, but Kelley, you would have loved it. It was the perfect combination of spicy with a hint of sweet. Yum.

Next day: Wales and the Cottswalds. The only thing we saw in Wales was Tintern Abbey. (And the awesome bilingual signs. Everything was written in Welsh and English!) Tintern Abbey was absolutely beautiful. It is a ruin of a chapel that was founded in 1131. We spent a while just walking around and exploring the beautiful stony ruins in the amazing green area. This place inspired one of Wordsworth’s poems. I loved it.

After exploring the tiny little town of Chipping Camden, where all the doors were my height or shorter, we went on a lovely hike. One of our professors LOVES to walk and hike. (which I love) The hike had wonderful scenery of green fields, cute little farm cottages, horses with their babies, lambs with their lambies, running and jumping. We all thoroughly enjoyed it, even though we all grumbled at the beginning because of how tired we all were. The English countryside is beautiful and I fell in love with it last week.

Unfortunately, and largely due to this trip, I am totally bogged down with homework. There is so much more to tell! But since I haven’t blogged in over a week, I figured I better post something. So this is just part of the trip. And because the internet is so slow, I was able to post pictures on facebook, but not here, so visit my profile if you’d like to see pictures of this trip.

Today was great too…we visited Hampton Court Palace and the Down House, where Charles Dickens lived. Both were lovely.

To be continued….later…when I don’t have three art assignments due on Thursday and tomorrow I’ll be in Cambridge all day!