Stonehenge and Bath

This Saturday DJ and I boarded a Premium Tours bus and ventured off to the English Countryside to see two English Heritage sites - Stonehenge and Bath.

It is estimated that Stonehenge was built between about 3100 BC and 2400 BC. The problem with being so old is that we have no good historical preservation of what the site was actually used for.  We know that it is perfectly aligned with the Summer and Winter solstices.  Depending on the month of the year the sun would shine through a different one of the stone structures.  Thus, the only definitive use that our walking tour would confirm for us was that it was some sort of a calendar for the neolithic people who build the structures. All else, stories of worship or sacrifice, is speculation.  

The stones are clearly enormous, but what we can't see is that a full one third of the stone is placed in the ground.  What's more, some of the stones were hauled from distances several hundred miles away.  Whatever it's use, it must have been something important enough to inspire these people to put forth great effort to build these structures.  

 Boarding the bus for another adventure!

 Yes, we were here

Just hangin' at the 'henge

After Stonehenge, our bus took us to Bath.  Bath is famous (to me, anyway) for two reasons: It the site of an ancient Roman Bath, and Jane Austin lived there for a time, and used it as the setting for many of her books.  

Bath was built by the Romans sometime around AD 60, about 20 years after they arrived in Britania. They discovered a natural hot spring (it must have been a real treat after arriving in such a chili country!) and built a bath house around it.  A temple was build adjacent to the bath for the goddess Sulis Minerva.  The site was used both as a public bath house and as a place of worship.  

In the early modern era the city underwent a significant amount of development during the Georgian era, and it now sits as a very pretty Georgain city in the middle of the hills of the English countryside.  Because we were on the tight schedule of the tour, we only had time to see the Roman Bathhouse, though I look forward to going back to see the Jane Austin sites and take in more of the beautiful architecture and pretty scenery. 

 When we got in to town I was starving!  It was nearly 1:30 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.  First order of business was to fill our empty stomachs.  We ate in the pump house adjacent to the bath.  We weren't supposed to have cell phone inside the restaurant, so I tried to slyly snap this picture on my way back from the bathroom - hence the very poor framing.  The cool part is, doesn't it look like a ball room where Jane Austin's characters may have come? The food was quite nice and the atmosphere was very fun.

 The Bath abbey.  Next time we'll try to go in.  No time this time around.

 The main bath.  In Roman times there would have been a high vaulted ceiling over the bath.  

 Where the hot spring runs in to the bathhouse.

 The sacred pool for the goddess Sulis Minerva.  People would write curses against other people who had done them wrong and throw them in to the pool as a sort of prayer to the goddess.  So much for forgiveness,  sometimes you just need a good curse on your enemies ;-p

The Bath countryside - more to come, we (we meaning Michelle, DJs not so interested in the Jane Austin aspect of the city) definitely want to come back!

Friday night shout-out to English food.  How about pizza, a slice of fig and proscuitto, or leak and potato, on cornmeal crust?  It was amazingly good, we practically licked the platter clean.  Definitely going back for more, who wants to join us?  :)