today was an amazing, amazing day trip through the english countryside. experienced 3 distinct eras in civilization and i couldn't have been more thrilled with the outcome. Stonehenge and Bath did not disappoint. from where we are now, in Fareham between Portsmouth and Southampton, Stonehenge is about halfway between here and Bath. so we figured we'd stop at the "pile of rocks" first, then head up to Bath.
so we set out at 9am, we're just outside Southampton on the M4, i come 4,000 miles, and my sister announces from the backseat that she's jonesing for a Sausage McMuffin. all this way, with McDonald's world headquarters in our backyard in Oakbrook, and she wants a Sausage McMuffin in England? as the old saying goes, "there has to be a McDonald's around here somewhere." sure enough, we spotted one. en route to Stonehenge, our trip brought us through Salisbury. as we came over a hill, Salisbury Cathedral towered above us and the surrounding city like a monarch. a magnificent piece of medieval architecture. i must come back to visit this place.
so many people had told me, "you're driving along, in the middle of nowhere, then you happen upon a pile of rocks." that's it. just a pile of rocks. was expecting it to be very anticlimactic. it wasn't. we parked the car, and luckily since it's still a holiday week and was a very brisk windy day, it wasn't crowded. we didn't pay to walk up to the stones to enter the park, just stayed outside the fence, but was still quite close enough to easily see and take pictures. it's just beautiful. okay, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea. but the historical significance, the mystery, the setting, the technology, the science, the beauty of the construction - everything about it almost choked me up. it was so much more beautiful than i anticipated, and definitely not just a pile of rocks. i didn't want to leave it. i just wanted to lie there on the the grass of the Salisbury Plain and stare at it. watch the clouds move overhead, the sun peek out behind the silver lining, the sheep grazing in the fields, and the towering mysterious circular stones on a high plateau overlooking the Plain. some of the stones were quarried and carved in a bowed fashion to account for the change in perspective... just like the architects of the Parthenon used 2,000 years later in Greece. just amazing. so glad to see this.
from stonehenge, we moved northwest through the Salisbury Plain (me keeping my eyes open for salisbury steak *teehee* ). on our way through, we passed signs indicating Tank Crossing. wish i had caught a picture of these signs. the Salisbury Plain is used as weapons practice and research by the Ministry of Defence. and since much of it is off limits, it hasn't been tampered by agricultural development, so the countryside, wildlife, and views were beautiful. next stop, Bath.
so marcus is driving, my sis and the baby in the backseat, and i'm riding shotgun (on the LEFT!) with the maps. marcus wanted to avoid some of the clusterf'k up around Bath, so we decided to take some secondary roads. SECONDARY my a$$! more like cow paths! we end up in this town called Bradford-On-Avon, and i felt more like i was in continental europe than england. that is, what i imagined little villages in the austrian alps to look like. the road couldn't have been more narrow than my pinky finger, winding through steep narrow streets, with buildings built right up to the car door practically. they were more alleys and gutters than "streets". we were happy to be free of the tight space, when we accidentally missed a right turn and ended up going south when we should have been north. converstion went like this:
marcus: where the hell is route B3108?
me: i have no idea, but i think it's back the way we came.
marcus: hell no, i'm not going back through that clusterf'k of a town.
me: well, we're going south. we need to go north and west.
marcus: how do you know that?
me: the sun is in front of us. and if it still rises in the east, then we're going south. let's turn right here. should get us back to A36 that B3108 joins up with, if we pass through the villages of W_____ and Freshford.
a few miles later...
marcus: where the f'k are we?
yeah. Freshford wasn't more than a cowpath and a couple stone shacks, IF we managed to squeeze by a few passing cars. and do mean SQUEEZE. WOW, we were in the MIDDLE of nowhere. mind you, england has a few motorways, but the other "main" roads aren't continuous, and they tend to get wider then narrower as you pass through village centers. honestly, some roads were so narrow that passing cars had to stop to let oncoming traffic by first. we're lucky we didn't fall off the island. on the other hand, it was far from boring, and definitely scenic. we passed some AMAZING massive medieval churches and english manors that i could only imagine were occupied by someone with the titles Lord or Earl in their names. back on the main road successfully, we were back on our path to Bath. (hey, that rhymes!)
TBC...
12/27/07
before i forget to mention, we experienced 3 distinct eras in human civilization today:
- Stonehenge: 5,000 years old (pre-civilization)
- Roman baths: 2,500 years old (ancient roman)
- Bath Abbey: 1,000 years old (medieval european)
for an archaeology nut like myself, this was a dream day.moving on to Bath...
we were armed with a detailed map of England, along with my guidebook including a map of Bath's city center. but no map that indicated how to get from the outlying roads to the city center. even when we were IN Bath, we had no idea where the baths or abbey were, or where the center of the city even was. so we winged it, followed some signs to a parking garage, and wouldn't you know it, the garage was just on the corner of my guidebook map. were but a few blocks from roman baths. SCORE! what an adorable city!! most of the architecure is similar yellow limestone in Georgian fashion. sis said it reminded her of Paris, but not as ornate. still, it's nestled along the River Avon in a green valley.
lunchtime found us at a little tearoom called Sally Lunn... it's located in the oldest house in Bath built in 1482. Sally Lunn was a woman who lived in this house that baked buns that were so soft they became famous throughout the area, and the recipe was later discovered hidden in a secret compartment in the house. it's now passed down with the house deed, and the bread is still baked and served the same way in the house to this day. this was Tea House Stop #1 where i was able to order lapsong souchong tea right off the menu. my all-time favorite tea in the world! a tougher find in the States, except in specialty tea shops and in chinatown.
moving on, while my sis and her hubby decided to watch the glockenschpiel performer in the abbey square, i decided to take a peek into Bath Abbey. who knew that england's first king was crowned here in 973AD? that's a long time ago! as a matter of fact, Queen Elizabeth II visited the abbey in 1973 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of her predecessor's coronation. and we think the chicago fire of 1871 was a long time ago...
i've never been in an abbey. biggest church i've seen is Holy Family in chicago. never even been inside a medieval religious monument. didn't know what to expect. wow. and to think, westminster abbey and salisbury cathedral probably put this place to shame. but still...the floors and walls were covered in these monument markers, almost like tombstones. some people's remains were buried right under our feet. in another section, James Montagu's tomb was laid about in the middle of the pews. there were so many detailed aspects of the abbey that i had to include more than a few pictures here to get the idea of how massive and beautiful this place was.the outside, from the courtyard behind the roman baths...
and last but not least, our last moments in Bath were spent at a little tea room just beyond the abbey. we made it just in time for the last tea service. was i born in the wrong country? am i supposed to be british? i've acquired quite an affinity for afternoon tea and scones with clotted cream and jam... and yet again, Stop #2 where i was easiliy able to order lapsong souchong tea. i love this place!
back "home" in Fareham (village of Hill Head), we walked into the house to find more relatives (in town for a funeral tomorrow), so we hauled over to the pub across the street for dinner and to down a few pints. my BIL's former SIL sat next to me. she gave all her possessions to her son and moved to greece a few months ago. just picked up and left. loves it there. she shares my love of ancient writing and maps. we jabbered on all night. she insists i come visit her in greece. try to twist my arm. after the funeral tomorrow we'll all gather at the pub again and she and i are going to pick up our convo. all in all, i couldn't have asked for a better day.
saturday we're heading out to Dover (as in the White Cliffs of...), then to Calais in France on Sunday for a wine run. NYE at the pub, then london on tuesday or wednesday for a few days. speaking of which, some of the Xi'an Terrecotta soldiers are in town on special exhibit at the british museum! of course, not ALL 10,000 of them. so i'll definitely take a peek at them while i'm spying the Rosetta Stone and egyptian exhibit.
12/28/2007
just realized something... on our trip to Dover and Calais tomorrow (today), we'll cross over the Prime Meridian. i'm such a geek. this excites me. i hope it's marked by a sign or something.this is coming from a girl who voluntarily read a book about the history of the meter.
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