In the "Bath"

Today was one of the days I was most looking forward to on the trip since we were going to Stonehenge and Bath. I had a few cases of Deja Vu because I had been to both of these locations 3 years before (and also took pictures of some of the same objects too!). It was a beautiful day for Stonehenge and only took us about a half hour to walk around the whole thing. Then we were onto Bath, one of my favorite places in England.



When you come upon Bath it is a most wonderful sight, for all of the buildings are this beautiful soft yellow/orange sandstone color. The town is set up in Georgian style and was made popular during the 18th century as a vacation spot and for medicinal uses because of the springs and water found there. Even today you can still get a glass of this esteem water that cured some king's leprosy. For lunch, my friends and I went to a tea shop and enjoyed some confections and cheese. Then we met the entire group to go into the Roman Baths. This museum is one of my favorites, it is so beautiful and really interesting because there are still springs with hot water that even boils in some areas. I must say I was tempted to dip my hands in the water but I know I would catch some ancient disease.



After the Roman Baths, we then had some free time for a few hours to explore. My group made the trek up to the Jane Austin house. Of course, being girls, we made some side tracks to do some much needed shopping and window shopping. We arrived at the Jane Austin house in time for a nice tour. Jane Austin only occupied the house for only 4 years and she absolutely hated Bath. She even based two of her books in Bath, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. I loved the museum they had because they had it set up like you were walking through Regency Bath with lots of costumes set up on manequins (and they were pretty period-correct!). Then we walked back, with some detours, and sat through another 2 1/2 hour bus ride home.


One thing I learned from today was how much I hate the "Audio Tours" museums offer. My friend Sarah and I were complaining about that, and since we both worked on exhibits this summer, we both agree that they are detrimental to museums. People are all agape and standing in the way of others because they are trying to listen to their audio or are fumbling around with it. All I hear is everyone's audios playing in the background while I try to concentrate and enjoy such scenic sites as Stonehenge and the Roman Baths.

Tomorrow we have a walking tour of Southwark (pronounced So-th-ark), free afternoon (which I will be working on my group project) and then get to stand through a 3-hour play in the Globe Theatre of Troilus and Cressidus. The internet has been very spotty these past few days at the hotel so it has been hard to do my blog for my class and update this one, so I will try when I can. I wrote a blog for yesterday below if you would care to check it out!