Into the Bath

My trip today worked out to be a 14 hour day. Most of it was on the tour bus, or at least that's what it seemed. We started with a visit to Windsor Castle. What an incredible place. It's easy to see why it is the Queen's favorite residence. No photos were allowed inside, unfortunately. I did buy a book about the castle which is full of color pictures (as well as a present for Erin). It was amazing to see all the opulence. I especially liked all the suits of armor, including Henry VIII's, and all of the armament (swords, pistols, rifles, etc.) Most art galleries would kill to have what is in the residence, including a fantastic self-portrait by Rembrandt, many paintings by Hans Holbein, Van Dykes, etc. The changing of the guard was exciting. Here's just one external view.




Next on the agenda was Stonehenge, the main reason I booked the expensive trip. Imagine my disappointment when we were told we had 25 minutes to see it. They never said anything about that in the information about the trip. I realize that most people may not feel the spiritual bond I do with the place, but 25 minutes? There was no later bus, so I couldn't stay as I would have had no way to get back to London. I took many pictures but not from all the angles I wanted. The area is roped off, so it wasn't possible to touch or interact with them.







So much for spiritual connections. We then made our way to an English pub, the Churchill. I had a meal of pork, which was pretty good. I sat with three young people from the US. We talked sports, careers, and Harry Potter. They didn't care for their meals. The young woman was a communication major, and is working in local television right now. We spent over two hours there (and only 25 minutes in Stonehenge!).

The next stop was the Town of Bath. Throughout our bus ride, we were regaled with a running commentary by our dotty tour guide, Priscilla. Her views on life, the world, and everything else were insane but funny ("Girls. Elope. Save your dads some money.") I never did figure if she were a socialist or not. She was against the wars but definitely in support of our troops, so she was all right with me. Bath was built on an ancient site/town built by the Romans who discovered the gushing heated waters. I went in to see the baths but was not impressed. The Bath Abbey was impressive. The Romans may have built the baths and worshipped pagan gods around the year 60. After the Norman conquest, a cathedral was built in the 1090s. The cathedral was in ruins by 1499. The present Abbey was built to replace it and destroyed in 1539. In 1611, the Abbey was reroofed and fully repaired. It was bombed in WWII and finally restored from 1991-2000. One interesting fact is that the walls are full of plaques and what look like grave markers. I asked someone who worked there if these people were buried in the walls. He said the walls were too narrow. There are some 4,000 people buried beneath the church! I spent quite a while talking to a young Canadian man when he asked me whether I could translate something that was in Latin (I did); he was with me when we heard that, so we were both amazed by that.





The ride back to London took almost three hours. Tomorrow I intend to visit Westminster Abbey since I couldn't go inside Sunday. My young Canadian friend had been there Saturday. He was impressed. I am tired but hanging in there. BTW, petrol (gasoline) costs about 120.8 p per liter. That works out to almost $8 a gallon. People who drive into London to work have to pay a charge on certain days (unless it's an electric car). According to Priscilla, there are some 1 million bike riders are on the streets going to work every morning. They are trying very hard to get a handle on the energy crisis. I give them credit.