Stonehenge and Bath

    Once again, I found myself eager to venture outside the city and explore more of the countryside.  I signed up for an all day bus tour that took me out to the legendary Stonehenge and the city of Bath.

Stonehenge is a place I have always dreamed of visiting.  The mystery behind it is alluring and I must say, there seems to be an excited sort of energy there, perhaps merely from all the people walking around the great circle of stones that no one can explain.  Stonehenge was 1500 years in the making and scientists cannot explain how the rocks were transported there thousands of years ago from the far off lands that they must have come from.  The one thing that scientist and historians do know is that the stones are aligned in sort sort of astrological pattern as the main gateways open to the summer and winter solstices.  The sun rises through the open place of the stones in some sort of pattern, yet scientist have yet to understand the full mystery of Stonehenge.  Had I been a writer in the past, (or even in the present) this would be the subject of great many fiction stories for me.  I can easily see it as ancient alter, or mystical place of magic.

Click on either picture to see an enlarged image.  With the single stone on the right, in the larger picture you can see a small yellow buttercup growing in a crook of the stone, its cute.

After leaving Stonehenge (and I did not want to go), we traveled to Bath.  Now I knew very little about Bath and was surprised at what a quaint little town it was.  The town was built by the Romans in 400. They were in the process of building a bridge when they discovered the water was warm.  That led to the discovery of the only natural hot springs in England.  The Romans built a great bathhouse here and the city sprung up around it.  Although the roman settlement didn't last long, Bath was later restored and served as a retreat for the wealthy who believed the hot springs helped to keep them young, and would drink the mineral water as well as bathe in it. The Romans design of the Bathhouse was quite technological and included heat for the rooms.  A wealthy man who owned the only limestone quarry in town hired an architect to start building houses for the wealthy in town and he made a small fortune with summer homes in the area. This made all the homes and buildings in the area constructed from the same beige limestone and the tradition has carried on over the years as nothing in Bath can be built from anything else.  The only way to date the houses is to see how faded or dirty the limestone is.

This picture, (from the guide book on Bath) shows the building made of the same beige limestone that are throughout the city.  Interestingly enough, it is quite lovely looking down at the city, which lies in a valley, and seeing the speckled landscape dotted with the limestone buildings.

Not only was the architecture unique, but the city was also very interesting.  It was alive with street performers and small shops offering everything from toys, souvenirs, to fine chocolates and pastries. It was a great place to spend the afternoon, first touring the roman baths, then walking along the streets shopping and checking out the various street performers.  One of my favorite things was a man who had painted himself all gold and dressed as a wizard.  He looked almost like a statue.  When you dropped money in his plate, he would lean down ever so eloquently and kiss your hand. It was cool.

Bath is also made famous by its connections with Jane Austin, whose novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both set mainly in Bath. Although she wasn't born here, she had friends in the city and was a frequent visitor.  Later, her father retired here. Definitely a great place to visit if you have the time.