Decided to go on a day tour of bath, lacock and stonehendge all in one day...mainly because I was very keen to see stonehendge and because for £60 I could do all the above...yet for £40 I would just cover my transport and entry into stonehendge. You do the math...Unfortunately, I had no idea I would have so much fun with Sue and her friends and stay out until 430am the morning of my tour. I had to borrow clothes from Sue then couldn't remember the address of where I was getting picked up....fairly stressful but after alot of running and asking train guards for directions (thank god i remembered the name of the hotel I was to wait outside of..) I made it to the pickup point 5 minutes before the bus.
The bus tour was fairly mixed bunch, all ages but mainly older people. I met the mayor of Aberdeen, Seattle a sweet dear grandma type and was taken pity on by a bunch of asian tourists who offered to take photos of me as I was alone. Very different from my Contiki tours in New Zealand.
First stop was Beautiful Bath. Now I had no idea that Bath was actually called Bath because of ancient Roman baths that were built there during the roman occupation of england before the normans and anglosaxons invaded. I just thought it was a co-incidence..kinda thought Bath was some english royal name or somehting...mainly because everyone says 'baaathe' not the australian 'baith'...well I know what I'm talking about.
But the Roman Baths are very interesting. They are built on the only known thermal hot spring in England. Many of the original Roman structures remain including their advanced engineering of aqueducts to the many rooms of the bath house. Originally, it was a fully enclosed structure but the roof collapsed after the baths were left in disrepair following the Roman withdrawal from England. Isn't it interesting to think that the romans withdrew only because they didn't have the man power to continue to keep the outer bastions of their empire...they did not leave because of war...imagine what the world would be like if they didn't leave...we may all be talking in italian and australia could have been an italian province...
The baths unfornately are not in use...lucky I didn't pack my swimmers.
Bath is also known as a former residence of Jane Austen and is a beautiful city in its own right because it is one of the few cities in England that was fully planned then erected hence there is a beautiful structure and uniformity about bath especially since all the houses are made from local limestone and in a georgian style.