With a grand total of about five hours sleep, my night’s rest on Monday, going into Tuesday, March 30, 2010, held the record for the most consecutive minutes of shut-eye during the week of my London trip. Bob and I got up that morning at around 6:30am, got ready, and headed down to the continental breakfast in the basement floor of the Central Park Hotel. I was very disappointed that it was so skimpy. For some reason, I had expected the amazing buffet that we had gotten in Guatemala and I had seen in many of the hotels in Europe. But this week, I survived on a couple of buttered croissants and the occasional bowl of mushy raisin and bran cereal.
Our bus departed at 8am. I nodded back off at about 8:03am. But when I couldn’t keep my eyes shut, I listened to Steen, our tour guide for the week, give us a play-by-play of what our bus was passing by in the region. We had three major stops to make on this day, and thankfully, the first one was over two hours away. So for the most part, shut-eye it was.
We arrived in Bath, England at around 10:30am. This interesting city in the ceremonial county of Somerset was first established in 43 AD when the area was under rule by the Romans. Surrounding Great Britain’s only hot springs, which had even earlier been a shrine to the Goddess Sulis for the Celts, the Roman Baths were seen as a getaway spa with healing waters. We weren’t supposed to touch the warm water, but I did. There was also a museum as part of the complex, displaying the history and relics from ancient Bath, many that were thrown into the springs as offerings to the Goddess.
Entering the Roman Baths, with the Bath Abbey in the background
Up on the second level, overlooking the Great Bath
The same area as above, with the Abbey towering over the Baths
And you wonder why I barely age…
A Theatrical Mask presumed to have been found in a tomb below the heritage vaults
A gilt bronze head from the statue of Minerva, found in 1727
The Bath Abbey – or as it is formally known, The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Bath – which is just across the way from the Roman Baths, was the next place we visited. A denomination of the Church of England, the church is still active. Bob and I walked around for a bit, admiring the perpendicular Gothic architecture (okay, I got that off of Wikipedia), and perusing the graves. And wouldn’t you know it, I come all the way to England to pose with the grave of a United States Senator.
Inside the Bath Abbey
These were free so I took one. In fact I think I took the last one.
Grave of United States Senator and delegate to the Continental Congress from 1786 to 1788 William Bingham
Bob and I also had a look around the Bath Abbey Heritage Vaults Museum, which naturally had artifact and exhibits pertaining to the architecture, construction, sculptures of the abbey, and the like.
The Heritage Vaults Museum was built over the medieval monks’ cloister and burial ground. Or so this monk told me.
This chair had been in the abbey since 1620 or so…and I aimed to see what all of the fuss was about
After we had finished exploring, we took a very quick jaunt around the city, checking out the River Avon, and stopping in a little food shop called Scoff’s where I picked up a Wiltshire ham and cheddar hot-pockety thing and the greasiest pork sausage roll I have ever encountered. There was more liquid in it than in my can of Coca Cola. We departed about 11:45am. Sleep greeted me once again…and Bob too.
Overlooking the River Avon in Bath
Bob is excited to see Stonehenge
When I came to, it was almost 1pm and we our bus was pulling up next to a little rock structure known as Stonehenge. One who wants to see all of the iconic structures of the world, rock or not, really has no choice but to see Stonehenge, and will typically react just the same as I did. By shivering. And of course, realizing that it was exactly what they had expected, only colder.
The fascinating thing about Stonehenge is that, since they are prehistoric, no one really knows who did it, when they did it, how they did it, or why they did it. Some evidence indicates that they are as old as 3000 BC, while others suggest that they are more in the 2200 BC range. Either way, that’s a freaking long time ago. So how were they able to put a rocks this size on top of other standing stones? And how did they get them there?
Well, here it is
You can really tell which side of Stonehenge you are on
Apparently the stones are resistent to the wind. I however am not.
Getting welcomed to Stonehenge as I was leaving, hot chocolate in hand
Anyone who has seen National Lampoon’s European Vacation will recognize this formation that the Griswold family managed to back their car into and knock down. Of course, there is no real way to do this, as the buses park across the street where you are set on a walking pathway up a hill that will lead you as close as you can get to Stonehenge, unless of course you want to jump the two-feet high metal rope. I chose not to…this time.
As I’ve alluded to, for some reason it was almost unbearably cold in this region in the English county of Wiltshire, so after shopping for my obligatory magnet, I grabbed a hot chocolate – being sure to add the whipped cream – and hurried back to the bus. So about 20 minutes after arriving, we were on our way. That’s really all the time that you need at Stonehenge. Off to dreamland I went as our bus careened across the English countryside.
Frothy on the bus
An hour and a half later, we were in the English county of Berkshire, visiting Windsor and the largest inhabited castle in the world, known as Windsor Castle. Most of the Kings and Queens of England and the United Kingdom have influenced the design of the castle, originally built over 900 years ago, which has served as a home, fortress, palace, and prison. Queen Elizabeth II spends many of her weekends entertaining here.
We roamed the castle grounds for over an hour with our tour guide Steen, touring through St. George’s Chapel, the State Apartments, and checking out Queen Mary’s amazing giant doll house – always being careful not to anger the armed guards. Bob even flattered one by telling him that he looked like Richard Herd. No photos were permitted inside the castle, so I missed out on several good ones. But I was a most excellent friend when I risked my life so that Bob could get a picture with his favorite royal couple George VI and Queen Elizabeth, buried in St. George’s Chapel.
Entering Windsor Castle
With a British Bobby…or is it Bobbie?
Getting ready to enter the castle
One of the fortress gates, in which enemies would be trapped and squashed
Bob hovering oer the graves of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. I risked life and limb for the sake of Bob’s art.
American Royal So-and-So’s visit British Royalty
First face in a British cannon
Assisting in guarding Windsor Castle. I’m proud that the fortress was never penetrated on my watch.
We took our bus back to the hotel after Windsor Castle, arriving a little after 6pm. I had three plays that I had hoped to see this week and we had planned to see one of them on this evening. Unfortunately after we took our bus out of Orme Square out to Piccadilly Circus, we couldn’t get to the Queen’s Theatre quite in time for the 7pm staging of Les Miserables. So we had to watch the first 15 minutes or so from a closed circuit monitor. During the first set change, the filed us into the theater.
Patiently waiting in Orme Square back in London for the next bus
This was the first time I’d seen Les Miserables and I enjoyed it very much. It’s one of Bob’s favorites, so he gave me some background on the plot, which is a bit hard to follow during the first run-through. No matter, I really liked the music and need to hook myself up with the soundtrack. Drink with me…
Intermission at Les Mis
The play was a long one and went on until well after 10pm. So by the time we left the theater, grabbed something to eat at the Piazza Espresso Bar (a chicken & crispy bacon calzone), took our bus back to the hotel, it was close to midnight. The good news was that a couple from California had gotten sick at the airport so didn’t make it London, leaving a free room, which Bob gladly took. The bad news was this gave me the opportunity to play online on Facebook until all hours of the night and not get any sleep.
The couple not showing up would be working to my advantage also, allowing me the opportunity for a free trip into Paris the next morning. I’d once again be getting up bright and early, with only a couple of hours of sleep.
The trip will continue with a day in Paris…
I didn’t realize you went to Bath. Of the several cities in England I toured, I found Bath to be the most unique and most beautiful!
Denise
May 26th, 2010
Well, you’ve ruined it for me! I thought that National Lampoon’s European Vacation was a travel documentary.
Dad
May 26th, 2010
It’s good to know that your fortress was not penetrated.
Chris
May 26th, 2010
I agree about Stonehenge. About 20 minutes is all you need there and the obligatory pictures that you need to take. It was cold when we were there also and that was at the end of May.
Mom
May 26th, 2010