Today was our side trip out of London to visit Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor. Since all of these sites are a good distance outside of London and I was nervous about driving in heavy London traffic (on the left side of the road), we skipped renting our own car and booked our only guided tour of the trip. We crossed the street to Kings Cross Station and picked up some breakfast.
I went for a Bear Claw pastry, but Becky wanted to be more authentic and bought a Cornish Pasty for breakfast. Pasties (pronounced Paaahsties) are bread pastry with a stew or meat filling. (Made originally for the miners going to work who took the previous night's stew in a ready-to-eat pocket).
We took the Circle Line underground subway a few stops away, met up with our tour guide and got on our 16-seat minibus. We were the first on the bus, so we grabbed the front seats (with a bit more leg room, views out the front of the bus and closer proximity to our driver so we could ask questions.) The tour was planned to pick up the remaining passengers at other London stops and get to Stonehenge before the huge numbers of tour buses arrived. (It worked perfectly since we saw lines of tour buses arriving just as we were leaving Stonehenge).
Tony, our tour guide
Below: Wearing our audio guides included with admission. They had signs with numbers on them and when you got to that point, you punched in the number and hit play and then listened to the commentary. At the beginning of the trip, we got audio guides and listened to EVERY track. As the trip went on, even Becky passed on the guides and we just saw the sites and then looked things up on Wikipedia if we wanted to know more. When Becky went to Europe before we were married, she bought all kinds of guidebooks to help her remember the sites. With the internet, you can read up on just about anything you want.
Doesn't Becky look glamorous?
Below: The Heel Stone. Drawing a line from the circle to the heel stone, and extending out, there is a slight depression in the landscape, than goes straight for a while, then bends slightly to the right and then angles sharply down to the river.
I love this shot.
Outside Stonehenge on the distant ridges are barrows or earth mounds in a wider circle from Stonehenge. They are considered a part of Stonehenge, but their purpose or significance is still unknown.
More barrows on the horizon with sheep in the foreground
From Stonehenge, we headed West toward the city of Bath, a city known for its Georgian style architecture and the Roman Baths (first built and used when the Romans occupied England in the 1st and 2nd Centuries.) Adjacent to the Roman Baths is the Bath Abbey (which surprisingly survived the "dissolution of the abbeys by Henry VIII....at least to the degree that the building is still standing.) The abbey is the site where Edward the 1st was crowned in 973 AD. (I find that kind of history almost unfathomable....while the cathedral has gone through subsequent renovations, the bones of it have been around for over 1,000 years!)
The West facade of Bath Abbey
Along each side of the main windows are carvings of men and angels climbing Jacob's Ladder up into heaven. I love that kind of detail.
Interior of the Abbey with its fan vaulting
I love this detail of the fan vaulting over the main altar
The East windows
While the construction of cathedrals or abbeys were a big political statement (i.e. the bigger and more impressive the building, the more power you exerted within your region), I like to think about the simple stone mason that puts everything he has into the carvings on the outside, or the detail in the windows, etc. and see a humble man giving his best in devotion to build something to God.
Right next to the Abbey is the Roman Baths that date back to the time of Christ when the Romans occuped Britain. The temple that was excavated nearby dates to 60-70 AD. These are the only hot springs in England, and they became famous when Queen Anne (in 1687) came to Bath and was treated for infertility. Shortly after bathing in the baths, she became pregnant and they achieved fame in the land. People came to drink the water for all kinds of health purposes. (We sampled the water and it was very mineral-y and very warm.)
Below: A costumed interpreter showing the traditional Roman headpiece with hair woven through it (and the lady looked kind of ridiculous in it....I hope the Roman women looked better).
Pedestrian shopping street through the center of Bath. We didn't waste our time shopping! Not on my schedule!
Below: The Circus. A 17th century development where all of the buildings are arranged in 4 blocks in semi-circular buildings around a central park in the middle. A street extends from the The Circus to....
....the Royal Crescent, about 1 block away. At the Royal Crescent, the buildings are arranged in a crescent shape and overlook Royal Victoria Park. To the right of the photo, you can see the "Ha Ha Wall"...a wall that from the upper side, gives the impression of a continuous landscape and keeps the grazing sheep away from the residences.
View of the Ha Ha Wall up close.
View from the crescent looking out. The Ha Ha Wall disappears making the continuous
landscape (at one time with sheep). We studied this in our Art History class in school.
Standing in front of the Royal Crescent. (Many movie stars and
famous people have units in the Royal Crescent or The Circus).
The River Avon with its v-shaped weir and Monks Mill
For lunch, while we waited for the tour bus to leave, we grabbed some more Cornish Pasties and had them for lunch with some ice cream.
Leaving Bath, we drove along the eastern ridge of the valley with the Black Hills of Wales in the distant. I just thought it was kind of cool to say that I had "seen" Wales.
From Bath we drove back toward London and stopped at Windsor, where Windsor Castle is located. When we first pulled up, the British Flag was flying. (Typically, the Royal Standard means the Queen is in residence, the British flag means that she is not there. As soon as she comes or leaves, the flag is immediately changed.)
Then there was no flag.
Then, after we had been there 30 min or so, the Royal Standard was flying. So HRH (her royal highness) must have arrived just as we did or shortly thereafter.
The area below the Round Tower (built by Edward the Conqueror in 1066 AD)
Walking toward St. George's Chapel, the chapel within the castle grounds and one of the coolest chapels/cathedrals we saw in England. They didn't allow photos in any buildings within the castle and since they were guarded pretty heavily, I didn't try.
Internet photo of the interior of St. George's Chapel. Henry VIII is buried here in the center aisle, along with Queen Elizabeth's parents.
Outside the Upper Ward. The State Apartments are to
the left and the visitor apartments are to the right.
The Lower Ward
Windsor Castle was filled with amazing rooms that were decorated to the hilt. Although with all of that royal display, you'd think they could afford to install some air conditioning! It was a bit stuffy in there. But it was interesting to see the rooms that were rebuilt after the 1992 fire.
Our tour guide Tony, dropped us off in front of Harrod's in Central London so we could walk through it. Supposedly, you can buy ANYTHING at Harrod's. We didn't test that claim, but we can vouch that they have a lot of overpriced junk.
The chocolate hall
The top of the Egyptian Escalator (installed by Dodi Fayad's father--Dodi was the guy who was killed with Princess Diana).
We did buy Anna an original copy of a Harry Potter wand at the Harry Potter section of the store.
Becky in the Purse Hall
We left a bit shy of cash from Harrod's and rode the underground back to the hotel so we could do some laundry in the tub and get it drying. But for all of our expertise on the underground, didn't do so well yesterday. We discussed beforehand that if we ever got separated on the underground, we would just go to the next stop and meet up there. As we got to a station yesterday, the train was there and was rushing to try and get on the train. I thought Becky was right behind me, but as I turned around, I saw the doors closing with her arms inside the train. She struggled to get them pulled out between the automatic doors and then just stood there and waved as the train pulled out of the station. It was all in slow motion....N o o o o o o o o o o o o o! I took the train to the next stop, and waiting (just a minute or two) until Becky got there and we got back on the same train. We were more careful after that.
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