It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we finally did it! Monica and I had tried to go to Stonehenge about three times last year, but the early morning departure time on a Saturday always deterred us from actually doing it! We left our flat in Lewisham around 7 am and headed to Victoria to catch the tour bus. The trip there was about 2 hours and of course, I fell asleep.
Stonehenge was much more impressive than I thought it would be. The rocks were HUGE and it was pretty interesting to hear how they transported them there from Wales and the theories behind their use or why it was created. There were a lot of "theories" but not a lot of evidence which I thought was still interesting. With all our archeological tools and scientific methods, we still can't fully understand it. Some things will remain a mystery I guess. Until we develop Doc Brown's Delorean at least.
Next, our tour lead us to the city of Bath where the main attraction was the Ancient Roman Baths (Hot springs and temples). I thought this was much more impressive than Stonehenge and I got a lot more out of it! We had audio guides that explained everything and were able to walk around the ancient waters and structures and actually see them CLOSE UP (unlike Stonehenge where you had to walk around a circle so far away!). We couldn't touch the water though because the pipes were made out of lead, they do not treat the water, and pigeons / seagulls do their business in there. It was pretty grimy and green, but nevertheless, I had such a strong desire to touch it. However, my sense of "I get sick from everything" overcame my curiosity and I had the common sense NOT to stick my hand in the water.
We were there for so long wandering about, learning things which I won't reiterate here (as I know history is not necessarily as exciting to others as it is to me). When we were finished, we went to a pub and I had some lovely fish and chips (my traditional bangers n' mash wasn't on the menu). We also bought some amazing delicious sweet buns from the world famous Sally Lynns next door to eat on our bus ride home.
While we were in the pub, we noticed that there was a television on that was showing riots that were going on in Central London! During the day there was a peaceful march to protest the British Coalition Government's spending cuts (from social programs and services like education, daycare and health care) and 250,000 people showed up to march!! IT was so impressive!! However, just like with the G20 thing, there were splinter groups the broke off and started rioting. They were upset about the fact that a lot of major corporations don't pay tax in the UK, so they started vandalizing shops on oxford street! TopShop got its windows smashed in, 150 people did a sit in at Fortnum & Mason, HSBC in Covenant got vandalized, and apparently the Ritz was on fire!! It was pretty intense and when we came back to the city, we couldnt' get dropped off at our pick up point because it was in lockdown. Luckily, we ended up at a closer spot (London Bridge) and got home safely, but still... a very eventful day!
I was in London for four and a half years and did make it to stonehenge - so good for you! I was however there long enough to learn that the picture on the top of your blog is Tower Bridge, not London Bridge...muhahaha
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