England, Scotland, and Wales
Mike and Judy Henderson
May 13-26, 2018
I'm going to leave the map of our trip a the beginning of each page so you have a reference as to where we are.
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5/21/2018 (Monday) We depart for Stonehenge and Bath today. Judy has visited Stonehenge before but I've never seen it. We almost took some extra time when we did the cruise that departed from Poole, but then decided not to.
When we arrived at the Stonehenge site, Bret, our Tauck guide, said that the visitor's center was new since his last visit. It's an interesting design, a free standing roof with buildings built under it.
The actual Stonehenge site is about a kilometer from the visitor's center, and they have shuttle buses that run back and forth.
And here we are at Stonehenge. I'm not going to show you a lot of pictures of the site - you can find many on the web if you want more.
But I will include this aerial view so you have an idea of the layout of Stonehenge. Many people find it difficult to believe that our ancestors could move stones of this size. But similar feats were accomplished in many different parts of the world - the pyramids in Egypt, the figures on Easter Island, the pyramids of the Mayas in the new world, and several others. Our ancestors are us, meaning they had the same intelligence as we do and the ability to organize large groups of people to accomplish complex tasks. It took them a long time to do some of these things - with modern equipment we could do the tasks faster - but they were able to get the tasks done. They didn't need Alien visitors to do these things.
To show we were there, here are Jean and Judy.
And me and Judy.
Leaving Stonehenge we drove through some beautiful countryside toward Bath. I really knew nothing about Bath before going there. I think it's mainly known for the old Roman Baths there, and for becoming a place for Londoners to escape to. I later learned that Jane Austin lived in Bath for most of her life - I've never read any of her novels.
We arrived in Bath at lunch time and Tauck had made reservations for us at the Pump Room Restaurant. I had also never heard of the Pump Room, but apparently it's a very special place in Bath. I've learned that it's mentioned in some of Jane Austin's novels.
A short bit of history on the Pump room is that it was originally built in 1706 as a place for people to come to for the mineral waters of Bath. I assume it was just a large room for people to congregate in.
In 1784 to 1795 it was rebuilt as we see it now. After WWII it was converted into a restaurant.
This view shows the interior of the restaurant. We were way in the back, against the back wall so this shows most of the restaurant.
I think during Jane Austin's time this was a very sophisticated, proper English gathering place. Here's Jean and Judy continuing that tradition by acting very proper, sophisticated and lady-like:-)
The meal was very good.
When we arrived there was a solo pianist playing, but before we had dessert a trio began performing. Judy went to talk with them when they took a break.
After lunch we went to the Roman Baths. The baths were constructed over time, but the first Roman building was in the first and second century AD. After the Romans left England, the baths were gradually covered over by silt from river flooding and were not re-discovered until 1878 by Major Charles Davis. Since that time, excavations have been gradually uncovering more and more of the Roman Baths.
Here's the layout of the Roman Baths.
This is a view of the Great Bath. The water is colored by the minerals in it. The water at the Blue Lagoon hot baths in Iceland is a similar color. However, the water of the Blue Lagoon is filtered and treated to assure that it is safe for bathers. The water in the Great Bath is not really safe enough for bathers - by today's standards, nor does it look appealing.
I found two beautiful women at the bath.
There's a museum associated with the Roman Baths on the way toward the ever-present gift shop. You have to pass through the museum to exit. And, of course, you have to exit through the gift shop.
Here's the water from the spring that feeds the Roman Baths. The orange color is from the minerals in the water.
When we got down to the level of the Great Bath, there were some actors talking to the visitors. We talked with this actor and, try as we might, he never would break character.
Then we went to the hotel - the Francis Hotel - and checked in. It's a nice hotel that was created by converting a block of "row houses" - houses that have common walls - into a single hotel.
After our big meal at the Pump Room, we had a very light dinner and called it a day.
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5/22/2018 (Tuesday) Today is going to be an easy day. We met in the lobby at 9:15am for a walking tour of Bath.
We walked a path that Jane Austin walked and described in some of her novels.
We walked up to the Royal Crescent, which I suppose can be described as a semicircle of expensive rental row houses.
We walked back into the main part of the city, to the Assembly Rooms, another thing that Jane Austin described in her novels. Do an image search on "Assembly rooms bath" and you'll find many pictures of the interior rooms.
We then walked to the Pulteney Bridge. The bridge was completed in 1774 and has shops on each side of the road on the bridge.
Here's a view across the bridge. If you didn't know it was a bridge, you'd think the road just continued on.
The walking tour ended at Bath Abbey and we continued our exploration of Bath by entering the Abbey. The difference between an Abbey and a Cathedral is that an Abbey is headed by an abbot or abbess, while a Cathedral is headed by a bishop. Also, an Abbey is more of a monastery while a Cathedral is more of a church.
A view toward the altar.
One thing I found unusual is that the walls and floors are lined with memorial tablets, such as the one below.
Here's one wall.
And another
The floor has many memorial stones. The tour guide told us there were perhaps 6,000 people buried in the Abbey.
After our tour of the abbey Judy and Jean went exploring and I went back to the hotel for a nap. We met at Brown's Brasserie for a light lunch.
After lunch, Judy and Jean went shopping and I came back to the hotel to work on this blog.
Jen joined Jean, Judy and me for dinner in the hotel restaurant this evening.
That was the end of the day. Tomorrow we have an early departure for Windsor Castle so it's early to bed.
You can see more of our adventure here.