Wednesday, November 19, 2008

the day trip to stonehenge & bath and other adventures

I like day trips, I really do. Spending an entire day without school work or having to worry about anything like that is really a nice break. BUT...(come on, you knew there had to be a 'but' in all of this!) no day can be a complete success when you need to be somewhere by 8.45 and haven't had enough coffee to make your eyes look awake. The streets of London were e.m.p.t.y when we left for Earl's Court to meet the crew. I mean no people, nothing. Weird.

One perk of the day was seeing the rooftops where they filmed the beginning of 'Marry Poppins' when she is flying over London. We got to Stonehenge after probably an hour and a half in a bus, and was suddenly struck by this thought: Gee. I thought it would be bigger. Didn't you?
Maybe this picture isn't the best since I might have used the zoom on my camera, but really, I felt slightly disappointed. And then I felt guilty about being disappointed. Then to combat the guilt, I listened to a lot of stuff on my audio guide about Stonehenge, barrows, and what the henge possibly was used for. Then I got bored...it was actually quite a vicious cycle. I shut up the guilty, disappointed whiner inside of me with a cup of hot coffee and a 'Stonehenge Rock Cake' so in the end, it all worked out.
We had quite a long trip into Bath, but it was completely worth it. Bath is such a beautiful town. It has a really homey feel to it, and I might like it more than Brighton. So for those of you looking to live here...well, take that into consideration while you plan.
Very similar to how Stonehenge was 'just a bunch of rocks', Bath was just a lot of hot water. (It was also interesting to see the signs that told you not to touch or drink the water, due to its contamination. Hmm...so much for their healing qualities.) The old stone work was beautiful and curious to learn that so many people would come just to hang out in a big bath because it 'might' cure them.

Behind the Baths was the Bath Abbey. I didn't get a chance to go in, but it was really quite beautiful, even from the outside. This picture is really neat because you see many different types of architecture in one place.
One thing that I actually found interesting this day was seeing a house where Jane Austen stayed when her father came to Bath. I visited the front of the house, number 4 Sydney Place. I went to the park right across the road from this house to the park where she and her sister would walk. It was really neat. I also visited the Jane Austen Center which was full of pictures of the original Mr. Darcy, dear Collin Firth.
We made one more stop on our way out of Bath. This is the Royal Crescent designed by John Wood, the Younger. Though it looks quite palatial, it is really 30 houses all joined together. According to Wikipedia (all the profs here swear by it), a lot of the houses have been turned into flats, and there is a Royal Crescent Hotel that occupies numbers 15 and 16. If you go to Wiki and look up the Royal Crescent, they have a really cool panoramic view of the Crescent, because there really is no way to put it all in one picture. It's huge.
I am sorry this post comes off a bit...jaded. I am started to tire of endless audio guides and huge museums of really old things. Even new museums, like the Tate Modern I'm tired of. Well, that is a bad example because the Tate Modern deals with a lot of well, modern, art and I find it to be a bit of rubbish.
Speaking of the Tate Modern, I had a curious thing happen to me on my way there yesterday. I was coming out of the St. Paul's Tube stop and decided to cut through the gardens at St. Paul's to save time. As I turn the corner to the garden, this squirrel (oh, sorry. Sonya this story is about a squirrel. You can stop reading if you want to, I won't mind.) races around the corner, walks/runs OVER my foot, pauses, then runs off as I shake it off of my foot. SERIOUSLY. A squirrel stepped on my foot. It was so weird! But that is one thing I've noticed here. The animals (birds and apparently squirrels too...) have no fear of people. They just come right up to you. And I suppose the Narnian squirrels like to step on humans feet.
It's a weekend in Scotland for me, which comes at a perfect time. I need this break! The next two weeks are going to be slow, but the last week is just packed with papers. I promise to work ahead on them, mum. Don't worry.
Off to finish one last essay for this week. Then I can take a break. Oh, but I have to do laundry before Scotland. Oh joy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Laura will now be known as "Walks with Squirrel," sort of like "Dances With Wolves," .....or not. hehe

sharon said...

squirrels like that wouldn't last long around these here parts!!perhaps it was a non brighton rat with a bushy tail

i love your blogs and am eagerly waiting right cheer for the next installment----about coffee?, come on home, plenty of it here to drnk and i have the cream to do it----and it is not good to drink alone, so i am told
love dad

mrsforeman said...

So good to hear from you. Loved your ecard. Actually Bailey has been quoting it, even when it is not Friday. Love your pictures too. The one reminds me of the "plaza de los tres culturas" in Mexico City. Let me know if you ever want to study there. I'll guide.
Sounds like you are finding your way quite well in London. (God's taking great care of His princess). Just in time to come home. And please do, we miss you. We have squirrels here. The ones in at Albright are quite friendly (if you feed them peanuts). There's even a big cup of the "high test" with your name on it. Promise.
Miss you so much.

Anonymous said...

Rocks and squirrels and assignments and all that jadedness. Heavy sigh. It's not coffee you need. It's chocolate. I'm here for ya, kiddo!
PT