So at long last, after three weekends of attempted trips, this past Saturday, 5 November, was the day of our excursion to Stonehenge. The tour was booked, my Stonehenge bag* (see footnote) was packed, and we were ready. After a mad dash through the streets of London with Darren, our Dale Earnhardt Jr. driver, we got to the Kings Cross Holiday Inn, and boarded the Golden Tours luxury coach.
After some cheerful reminders that absolutely NO hot beverages or food were to be consumed on the coach, we were off. Being the last to board the bus, we four (Stefenie, Jenn, Sara and I) settled comfortably into the very back of the bus, and were promptly lulled into a sweet slumber by Shirley, our delightful tour guide.
Our first destination was the Salisbury Cathedral, a beautiful early-Gothic cathedral, once Roman Catholic-turned-Anglican church. It was here that I stumbled upon a gate named after a wonderful saint - St. Ann(e)'s Gate. Below are some pictures of the beautiful cathedral and environs.
Yes, it was built sideways - a miraculous feat. (And, if anyone knows WHY these photos posted sideways, please let me know how to fix them)
Check out this really cool water fountain that had a surface formed by water on top that looks as smooth as glass. Exquisite! (This too, was a gravity-defying, sideways fountain - INCREDIBLE!)
Following our walk through the Cathedral, and a view of one of the remaining original copies of the Magna Carta (written on the skin of a calf's fetus!), we headed across the way to a pub for lunch. I ordered the tagliatelle with tomato sauce and steamed veggies, and it was a very poor excuse for a £7 lunch - limp pasta, flavorless vegetables, and lukewarm tomato sauce. Did I mention, too, that I almost choked on the peas?
Post-lunch we hopped back on the bus and headed to our next destination.... STONEHENGE. The drive was scenic and beautiful - rolling green hills were dotted with sheep and cows. Stonehenge was definitely an amazing experience, although our general feeling was that the rocks - well, they didn't seem all that big in real life. Still, they were an amazing structure, but not as imposing as I had originally expected. I was also waiting for some sort of supernatural occurrence or crop circle to appear, but that didn't happen either. The weird thing was that as soon as we got to the rocks, it began to rain, and rained the whole time we were there - UNTIL we headed back onto the bus, whereupon the rain stopped. Was someone trying to tell us something?
Our knowledgable tour guide, Shirley:
At long last... STONEHENGE...
Finally, our last stop of the day was at the Roman Baths, in Bath (pronounced "Baahhth"). This was the site of an ancient Roman bathhouse, where men and women would come to the natural hotsprings to bathe, socialize and be scraped clean. We enjoyed walking through the structure, and had a chance to take in some spa water at the end of our tour. We excitedly got our four glasses of water, toasted our lovely day, raised the glasses to our lips, and tasted... warm, slightly metallic, icky water. Bleah. So much for a refreshing end to the day.
Tired but happy, we trudged back to the bus for the 2-hour drive home. The other girls - and actually, the entire rest of the bus, it seemed - quickly fell asleep, but I found this to be a good moment to look out the window and appreciate everything I've been able to experience while being here in London. Yeah, yeah, you all think I am a sap, but you only live once, so you have to just soak up every single minute you have. The cool thing that happened while I was staring out the window was the personal two-hour long fireworks display I got to see, all because of Guy Fawkes. As the coach raced past little countryside towns, fireworks of all shapes and sizes exploded into the dark velvet sky, in celebration of the capture of Guy Fawkes, the crazy man who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament, several hundred years ago.
Oh, but the day was NOT over, my friends - not by a long shot! After getting back, we caught our second wind, put on some hip hop in our flat, and as Stefenie would say - got "sexified" for our night out on the town. In search of a fun hip hop club, we ended up at... Rainforest in Piccadilly Circus. As in, the Rainforest Cafe CHAIN RESTAURANT (from the States) turned into a nightclub. Right. At least the music was fun. The crowd was really touristy and young, and if you ignored the sketchy old men standing at the edge of the dance floor drooling over the scantily-clad adolescents, it was actually not that bad. But still, most of the gals from MAS London made it out, so it was a fun end to a very long, packed day.
Almost all the MAS girls representin:
* Stonehenge bag - (n.) A sturdy, spacious bag used by art directors that must be large enough to carry sufficient provisions for a trip of one day or less. Can be any color, material or brand, but must be large enough to accommodate a digital SLR camera, umbrella, maps, journal, pens, various cosmetic products, personal hygiene products (when necessary), and snacks to ward off midday hunger pangs. May occasionally elicit ridicule from fellow mates, who doubt the need for a tote of such proportions until they realize that they, too, need a Stonehenge bag. YEP, Stef + Jenn - WHO had the Stonehenge bag FIRST? That's right, WHO told you guys that you need one?!
