Stonehenge & Bath

Stonehenge was absolutely amazing! A lot of people have told me that they didn’t get what the big deal was or they didn’t think it was all they great I learned so much about it that I didn’t know and even though I had little more than an hour I could easily have spent another hour there. Before you even see Stonehenge you see the Burrows. They are in the middle of fields or on the edge of the woods but they are everywhere. These Burrows are burial mounds. They remain untouched by the farmers who own the land they are on; I heard it was because it was bad luck to disturb them, though our tour manager didn’t say anything about it one way or the other. Some of the mounds even had fences around them. There are several in Stonehenge that are not so obvious that I will point out when I post the pictures and one that is. I even saw them quite a few miles away from Stonehenge. When I saw they are everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE.

There are plans in the works to put a tunnel under Stonehenge where the highway is so that it cuts out the noise pollution from the road and puts Stonehenge in the middle of a field like it would have been when it was originally built. I think this would make such a difference. The noise from the highway really does disturb the overall feel of the ruins, though it is still very impressive. I know one day I will go again, especially because in about 10 years it will be a whole new experience with the highway underground and they have plans to put the visitors’ center 2 miles away from the ruins. I have a pamphlet on it that I will show you guys when I get back. It has a diagram of Stonehenge, telling you what the different stones are, hopefully I remember what they mean when I post the pictures and do the captions.

Our tour guide told us before we got there that the Druids, though they celebrate the changing of the seasons at Stonehenge, didn’t actually build it. It as another culture and people who were responsible well before the Druids showed up. There is an old Druid who frequents the ruins and tries to get people to sign a petition to restore Stonehenge to the Druid people. He had a vision, the story goes, that God or a god told him he was the reincarnation of Arthur Pendragon – yes, THE Arthur Pendragon - and was charged with restoring Stonehenge back to the People – aka the Druids. He wasn’t there when we went today. It was raining and also according to our tour manager Arthur is a fair weather Druid.

I feel like I could go on and on in true Bellinger fashion with all the things I learned today about Stonehenge but I will save some of the other things so for the captions and move onto the Bath part of the trip. Yes, Aubrey and I had gone to Bath before but this time we skipped the actual Roman Baths and went wondering around town. We ate at a wonderful little tea house that has gluten free deserts – I got pictures – and I had the Ploughmen’s Lunch with was very filling and included a freshly made baguette (sp?). *sigh* It was lovely. The Earl Grey didn’t hurt either. Then we found a little fudge place. The moment you step across the threshold the smell of freshly made fudge hits you and you’re trapped. You HAVE to buy fudge and we did. Aubrey got a Clotted Cream and a Cappuccino and I got an Irish Cream and a Chocolate Chip. We still have some left and I am try to make it last but it’s hard. I can’t bring any back so I’m gonna have to finished it… There was another sweet shop that was cool but we didn’t get anything in. There was, though we never made it there, a brewery called Bellringer that I wanted to check out but it’s on the very edge of town and we wouldn’t have made it back to the bus and been able to see everything else we wanted to see. It’s just another thing to add to the list of things that I’ll do when I come back – and I WILL come back to England again.

The day ended with a stop at the Duke of York pub when we got back to London. This is a pub near the Victoria Tube Station that we’ve both wanted to try. It was wonderful and we had a little bit to drink but managed to get home safe and sound. Now I must sign off so I can post the pictures and go to bed. Tomorrow we leave for Windsor Castle with the ISA group at noon and it will be a long but exciting day. See you tomorrow!