Our last overnight trip.

This past weekend we took our final overnight trip to Bath, Stourhead, and Stonehenge. We left at 8 am on Friday and drove two hours to Bath. The Jane Austen fans reading this know the importance Bath plays not only in her depictions of Regency-era aristocratic life, but also in her own life, as she lived in that city for a number of years. The city was completely different than I had expected; it was set amidst rolling hills, the main part of the city residing in a little valley next to the Avon. It's extremely gorgeous country out in the west of England--it's also Thomas Hardy Country, or Wessex, so I was doubly in heaven. More than once I imagined the Reddleman from The Return of the Native coming over the hill in his cart, or Jude sitting under a tree in a field learning Latin and dreaming of Oxford. When we got to Stonehenge, it was easy to picture Tess and Angel Clare running away from the police before Tess dies on the altar at Stonehenge. Yeah, I'm kind of a Hardy fan. ;) One of the coolest things we saw in Bath were the Roman baths that have been there for over 2000 years; the Sacred Spring the Romans built a temple around had been in use by the Celts even before that. The most amazing thing is that the water still runs through all the original Roman ductwork and stone vaults. Derek would have totally loved it, seeing as he is the Roman aficionado of the family.

We also saw Bath Abbey, but didn't go inside--at this point, we're all a little cathedraled out. After eating lunch in the square, we returned to the bus, which took us to the hostel. This hostel was absolutely amazing. It was a converted manor house and was made of stone and surrounded by trees on this hill. I loved it. The room was the cleanest so far of all our hostels, and one room even had a usable stone balcony that looked over the front garden. After checking into our hostel, Kristin, Kaitlin and I walked down the hill to the city centre and wandered around the city. We went to the Royal Crescent (see the new [Masterpiece Theatre?] version of Persuasion for the best example of this), which is a spectacular row of Georgian houses in the shape of, you guessed it, a crescent.

We stretched out on the enormous lawn facing the Crescent and took a rest/nap, watching the cricket/lacrosse/football players. It was nice to relax in such a historic part of the city. On our way back to the hostel we bought some food for dinner and next day's lunch at Waitrose. Bed was great that night, as it is any night when I've been walking up death hills in the sweltering sun.

The next day we made our way to Stourhead, which is famous for its gardens. And for good reason. They are fantastically beautiful; every picture I took looked unreal.

The 1 3/4 mile garden path took us around the grotto, parkland, the Pantheon, and the Temple of Apollo. The Temple might be familiar to you if you've seen the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice. The rain scene? Yeah, it was filmed there. So that was kinda cool to see that. All the girls were swooning, of course. The thought of Mr Darcy has that effect on some people, I guess. Once we finished our meander through the gardens, we headed over to the house, which was unimpressive in its own right, albeit cool to think that people actually lived in such a beautiful place. They had a Steinway that some of the girls were allowed to play on, and I totally wish Cara or my mom could have been there and been like, "This is how you play on a Steinway," but oh well, next time. The house also had the coolest library ever, and I am completely set on having at least one room in my house lined with shelves of books. I loved it.


After the house tour we went back to the bus and drove another hour to Stonehenge. There's something about all the old, iconic sites for me (like Ben, Eiffel, etc) that have so much energy that makes me love them. Stonehenge was no exception. I mean, like Talbot said, it makes all the medieval and Roman sites we've been visiting seem like a drop in the bucket in terms of history and time. I mean, they've been there for nearly 10,000 years. Geez. I bought some cool souvenirs, including a wool picnic blanket to make up for my not buying one in Edinburgh, which I plan to make full use of on my return home. After Stonehenge we filed back on the bus and made it back to London just in time for dinner, which for Kristin and I involves the token Saturday night trip to Ned's Noodle Bar (Lonely Heart meal: spring rolls, Diet Coke, and chicken yakisoba).

It's weird to think that we only have a day trip to Blenheim Palace and Oxford, and then the program is basically over. On a scale of 1 to excited I'm not excited for the English final, but it's my only one so I shouldn't complain. I am happy to be coming home though, to be able to snuggle Cub and talk to everyone and give them their presents. Yay for home!