Baths, Stones, and Easter at the Abbey! (Days 25-27)

Day 25: Saturday, April 7

Saturday started very, very….very early!  And for a good reason too!  We had a day trip planned to visit Bath, Stonehenge, and Salisbury!  Lucky for me, Carmen (along with our every handy Rick Steves) found a tour company that takes you to all three places, and tickets to each place are included in the price.  It came to about equal or even a little less than what a train, taxi, and tickets to all these places would be…plus none of the hassle of transport and long lines!  Score for us! (Thanks Carmen!).  The tour left at 8:45am from Victoria Coach Station…which is nowhere near where we live!  So, we left the house a little after 7am, which gave us enough time to handle any delays on the tube and get breakfast too. 

Some of the gardens in the city of Bath.  Very beautiful!

Entrance to the Roman Baths with Bath Abbey in the background.  I am so sad we didn't have time to tour the Abbey...it was amazingly gorgeous on the outside!

It was about a 2+hour drive to our first stop, the town of Bath, home of the famous Roman Baths, which date back thousands of years.  The city itself is also very quaint and beautiful.  A little history behind Bath.  It was not always quite so famous, and in the late 1700’s, city workers were in the process of digging to build a new hotel to stimulate interest in the area, and they discovered the ancient Roman Baths.  Mission Accomplished :)  Automatic tourism for years to come!  They were very neat to hear about and see…the waters flow the same paths they did thousands of years ago (I believe some have been dated to the early 100’s AD) and the water is still very hot!  Our only regret is that we did not have more time in the city, as our tour was on a tight schedule!

First sight of the Roman Baths.

The Baths are several levels below the street, so even from the top where I took this picture, we still weren't at street level with the people on the other side of the wall!

One of the original drainage systems from the early 100's AD.  The Romans are quite good with their aqueduct system.

At the Baths!  Unfortunately, you can't touch because the water hasn't been properly treated.

One of the pathways where the water flows from underground up to the Baths.  It was steaming as we walked over it!

Next, on the Stonehenge, which probably needs very little introduction from me.  No one really knows why, how, or who put the stones there and how they have managed to stay there for all these thousands of years.  Yet they have, and so thousands upon thousands of tourists flock there yearly!  It was very neat to see and try to figure out how in the world the rocks were transported and lifted before the invention of the wheel!  And just the mystery of the area made it a very neat place to visit!

So big...and so old!!

Interestingly, Stonehenge is literally in the middle of farm land.  Hence the multitudes of sheep wandering about.

It fits right in my hand :)

One of the best pictures I got!

A view of Stonehenge with some of the other stones around the area in the picture.

After Stonehenge, we embarked on the last leg of the trip, and that was a visit to the Salisbury Cathedral, which dates back to the year 1220 and has had very few additions since its completion in the year 1258!!  A notable addition is the church spire from 1320, which is the tallest in all of the UK still to this day!  Salisbury Cathedral is absolutely gorgeous and was amazing to walk through (unfortunately, no pictures from the inside though since it was Easter weekend and services were ongoing) and see all the different tombs, statues, and memorials. 

Breath-taking first view of the Cathedral (even with all the repair work being done on the front)!

The cathedral also has the world’s oldest working clock, which dates back to 1386.  Interestingly, the clock has no face, but the gears still move and chime on the hour.  Very cool!  And Carmen and I are now quite proud to say that we have seen 3 copies of the Magna Carta (one of the original copies from the British Library, along with the revised version from 1225 there as well) because Salisbury Cathedral is home to another copy of the original Magna Carta!!  Wow, that is almost too much history to take in!  VERY interesting side story:  Did you know that during World War II, all four copies of the original Magna Carta, along with many other important British documents, were moved to Fort Knox in the US for safekeeping?  And the US wouldn’t give them back for awhile until they were absolutely sure no more bombings would take place!  I had no idea, but found that information was very cool! 

I'm still amazed when I try to contemplate how people in the 1200's were able to create such an amazing masterpiece, and in just 38 years at that!  I feel like this sort of design isn't even possible with today's technology!

UK's tallest spire...you have to look straight up to see it!

After visiting Salisbury Cathedral, we had a long bus ride ahead of us…about 3 hours, but luckily were able to sleep for most of it.  A very fun family was surrounding us on the bus, and it almost felt like home because there was a mother who kept trying to feed her teenage sons every 15 minutes or so (I have no idea where all the food kept coming from!) and they would just groan then take it about 5 minutes later!  We also shared a laugh with them when a very confused different family tried to board our bus and take their seats, insisting they were on our tour and someone just planted the different jackets on their seats for some reason or another!  Those poor, poor people.  Who knows if they ever made it back to their bus or are still wandering around Bath today?! :)  Upon arriving back in London, Carmen and I met up again with Jill and Aimee for dinner at our favorite…the Slug and Lettuce!  And we also made plans to meet up for Easter morning services at Westminster Abbey!!  I can’t wait!

Day 26: Sunday, April 8

This Easter Sunday was a very eventful one!  I think in all of my 23 years, it is the first time that I have been away from home on Easter, which was a sad revelation.  Carmen and I were supposed to meet Jill and Aimee at the Canada Water tube station at 8:45 in order to get seats at the 10:30 service.  Unfortunately, Carmen and I were running very late.  I’m almost embarrassed to say why, but since I’m blogging of my daily activities, I suppose I must.  We had finally found tickets to the Harry Potter Studio Tour….yes, you’re reading that right as your jaw drops down in astonishment.  The very same one that has been sold out since tickets went on sale months ago after the opening day was announced!!  We had been checking the schedule daily, but tickets were only available for one person or at a time when there was no way we could leave rotation.  Well, today, two ticket slots opened up for next Sunday afternoon!  We couldn’t pass it up…and so we were running behind.  I feel like you’re probably judging Carmen and me, but I can guarantee you won’t be after you see our pictures next week :)

Ok, back to the important stuff here…Easter Sunday at Westminster Abbey.  Wow, there are really no words to describe how amazing it was!  Easter in and of itself is such an amazing celebration Jesus conquering death and providing salvation.  But to celebrate the service in a church that is over 1000 years old was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  It was almost so hard to stay focused, though, because of the beauty of the surroundings and the stained glass windows and all of the tombs and memorials and statues lining the walls.  We decided a tour of the Abbey was definitely in order on another day.  Oh, and of course there’s always that tourist in the group.  You know, the one who takes pictures of Westminster during church.  Yeah, he got called out and chastised.  But quite frankly, he deserved it!

Carmen and I parted with Jill and Aimee, as Peggy had invited us to her house for Easter dinner so we wouldn’t have to be alone.  She is such a lovely, lovely person.  On our way back to the house, though, we witnessed a most horrifying escalator accident!  We were going down one of the very long escalators at the Westminster station, and there was an older gentleman and older lady going up.  This was one of those escalators that moves very fast (fact: there are slow, normal, and speedy Gonzales escalators.  This one was the latter).  Carmen and I (going down) and the older gentleman (going up) were at the halfway point, and the older lady (going up) was about ¼ of the way up.  Somehow, she tripped or stumbled and fell down (not down the stairs, but fell down onto her stair).  We are not sure if the old man was going to help, or was startled, or just turned too quickly, but he fell straight backwards on his head down the escalator, tumbling into the older lady who had just gotten back up!  It was absolutely horrifying!!  I just gasped with my hands over my mouth, and Carmen quickly looked for the emergency stop button, but there was not one to be found.  Luckily, a young guy at the bottom hit the button (side note: when this happens, ALL the escalators come to a screeching halt, almost throwing us forward down the escalator!).  Several people were already running up the stairs to check on the man, and when they sat him up, all Carmen and I could see was blood pouring out of the back of his head!  It was so terrible.  At multiple points at every station, there is an emergency call button.  We decided this was one of the instances where its use was absolutely appropriate!  After hitting the button, a random person talks back to you asking for more information, and in my American accent and talking very quickly, he had no idea what I was saying!  So I repeated and much more succinctly: “There’s a man who fell down the escalator, busted open his head, and all the escalators are stopped now!”  To which he replied, “I’m sending the paramedics right away!”  It was very neat to see how everyone teamed up and helped the man, some by holding him up, some by bringing towels to bandage his head, and us by calling the emergency people.  I’m sure he had to be taken to the emergency room (or A&E as they call it here, for accidents and emergencies), but I’m very much hoping he will be totally fine!

Already such an adrenaline rush for the day, and it was barely even 1:00!  We arrived at Peggy’s around 2:30 and enjoyed, as always, the multitude of appetizers she had for us.  They are just so delicious!  She also had a third year pharmacy student joining us.  She has sort of taken him in and mothered him, as he doesn’t have much family.  After talking with him for awhile, we learned he was from Canada, specifically Toronto.  He mentioned he had a friend who had gone to pharmacy school, and knowing it was a crazy long shot, we asked if her name was Ruth.  Would you believe his friend is our same dear friend Ruth who is in our pharmacy class with us right now?!?  Small, small world!!  And we discovered all of this in another country! Ha ha.  Dinner was delicious, as was the company, and Carmen and I are looking forward to another day off tomorrow as well! 

Day 27: Monday, April 9

Monday was a cold and rainy day, but we got to truly sleep in for the first time in weeks.  And it was marvelous.  Carmen and I had been going and going for so many days that we were in desperate need of some sleep (not that we would trade our traveling for a second! But the sleep was helpful).  We decided to just make a movie day out of it, as a nice theatre was just a few tube stops away, and we each had a movie we wanted to see.  We met up with Aimee and Jill and then separated and Carmen and Jill went to watch The Hunger Games, and Aimee and I went to see Mirror, Mirror.  I enjoyed the movie a lot…the costumes were such fun and there was a lot of unexpected dry humor.  I’d recommend it :)  There was also a big shopping centre nearby, so we were able to stock up on some groceries for the week while we were out.  We parted ways with Jill and Aimee, as they were headed back to Manchester that afternoon.  For dinner, we made it a Pizza Hut night with the boys.  Even better, the delivery over here is free with no tipping required (we checked with the guesthouse owner to make sure!) so we didn’t even have to venture back out into the rain!  A nice end to a very long holiday weekend!