London, Day Six: There's Life Outside of London

Today was the last full day I'd spend here in London. It also happened to be the first, and only, time I journeyed outside of the city and into the countryside to see what there was to see. And I have to say the rolling green hills were truly breathtaking...especially on the gray drizzly day we had today. Every once in a while there were small town or beautiful old farms with hills dotted with sheep and cows but in between there were wide expanses of big, beautiful...nothing. It was really very relaxing. KC had some great driving music on (including that Brett guy Lisa mentioned in her most recent "What I Love" entry!) and I just stared out the window for miles and miles.

About and 1.5 hours from London we reached our first destination - Stone Henge. The peaceful enigmatic beauty was mesmerizing. Here's a picture of me in front of it looking like a complete nerd with my audio tour guide thing (and there are actually a couple of other pictures of me in this entry...happy, Shane?).


And here is a picture sans me...



My aunt and I...


From a little farther away so you can get a good look at the whole thing...


The audio tour was really great too because it sort of, in a really weird way, helped to reveal the mystery of this amazing landmark by telling me more about it. It's almost like the more you know the more questions you have. This structure is at least 5000 years old. 5 THOUSAND years! Think before Jesus, folks, when pyramids were being built in other areas of the world. I've never seen something so old. So for any of you that heard this structure may be linked to the Druids...well that is actually most likely false. I guess historians researching it believe it existed well before the Druids and may have even already been in ruin before they were in the area. How it was made is a complete mystery...seriously, how do you lift rocks that way as much as 7 elephants (literally) that high without modern machinery? What it was used for is a complete mystery as well...though many believe it was used for either religious or scientific purposes...used to study the heavens and the movement of the sun and moon.

This is a poor attempt to capture the beauty of the countryside near Stone Henge. This photo really doesn't do it any justice at all.


So pretty...we drove through about another 1.5 hours of this over to the aptly named Bath to see the Roman Baths. But first we had some lunch at this great little place...


I believe the building is from the 1400's and the food was great (thank goodness). I guess Jane Austen and Charles Dickens used to hang out at this place back in the day.

Then we went to the Roman Baths, which were amazing in all of their glorious oldness as well. This picture is of the main bath area where people used to come and lounge in the healing waters.


Here's a close-up of one of the statues that was standing on the roof overlooking the bath.


And this pool was called the "cool plunge" because men would sit in extremely hot saunas and then jump into this cold pool. The bottom of this one was covered with coins and there were movie projections of half-naked, and sometimes fully naked, men getting in and out of the pool (no full frontals though...I know you're wondering...pervert). Oh my...


Here is a cool shot looking through the open area above the main bath.


This pool was originally sectioned off as the private pool for the gods...then was later used as a healing pool by monks. They brought sick people here to help them get better. I don't know how effective it was...


Here is me with the pool of the gods.


A little while later we headed back to the car and then back to London where we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Whole Foods then came back to the apartment to pack and get ready for tomorrow's trip home.

And so ends my blogs from across the Atlantic series. I will most likely do a reflective blog once I get home. This has truly been a wonderful experience and I hope to do much more traveling in the future. The only question is...where to next??? See you all across the pond. ;)