A. City University; B. Stonehenge; C. Bath; D. Cardiff; E. Oxford; F. London HeathrowDay 1/Druids and Romans-
Stephanie, Abby, Anthony and I woke up (too) early on Friday morning, and took the Tube all the way to Heathrow Airport, where we picked up our rental car. Europcar thankfully allows 21-year olds to rent and drive, so 22-year old Anthony had the pleasure of taming some English motorways and wild country roads in a diesel, manual, hatchback Vauxhall. When we picked it out we figured the car was about as European as they come...
Stephanie, Abby, Anthony and I woke up (too) early on Friday morning, and took the Tube all the way to Heathrow Airport, where we picked up our rental car. Europcar thankfully allows 21-year olds to rent and drive, so 22-year old Anthony had the pleasure of taming some English motorways and wild country roads in a diesel, manual, hatchback Vauxhall. When we picked it out we figured the car was about as European as they come...
Kind of looks like a minivan, doesn't it? Pretty trusty steed, though.We headed for Stonehenge, still getting used to the left side of the street and roundabouts every half-mile. After more than an hour of driving, we crested a little hill on the A303 highway, and there was Stonehenge up ahead, in all of its ancient, rocky, Druid glory. It was actually an amazing sight, even from almost a mile away, just plopped there on an empty farming plain. We parked and walked up to the monument. After hearing about Stonehenge in school and on TV for years, I thought I would be disappointed by a bunch of rocks. I wasn't. We only got within about ten yards at the closest point, but it was easy to appreciate the timeless fascination with Stonehenge. It's pretty crazy to think that primitive peoples lugged 80 stones weighing up to six tons each from Wales--almost 200 miles away--and stood them up in a complex pattern for spiritual rituals. What's amazed me just as much was the fact that the whole thing is still standing and in good condition 4,600 years later. Here are a few pictures...
Left: at the furthest point away on the walkway. Right: Close up
Left: The best part actually might have been the very intense neo-pagans camping out in the adjacent farm field in their RVs. Right: Abby, me, Anthony (rocking the hood, Druid-style) and Stephanie.
Left: The best part actually might have been the very intense neo-pagans camping out in the adjacent farm field in their RVs. Right: Abby, me, Anthony (rocking the hood, Druid-style) and Stephanie.
All in all, Stonehenge was a successful first stop. Getting to Bath was an adventure, as Stonehenge is far enough of off the direct route that we had to take smaller roads. We made it, though, and were treated to a great view of the town when we reached our hostel atop a hill...
Left: Bath YHA Hostel. It would've been great if the heat had worked! Right: The city of Bath seen from a spot near our hostel.
A Not-So-Quick History Lesson (feel free to skim this):
The Romans came over to present-day England (Britannia, as they called it) around 40 AD, and made it to Bath shortly afterward. They heard of a "magic" hot spring that an ancient tribe of Celts had been venerating in the name of a goddess they called Sulis, and being the culture-mixers/-hijackers they had always been, the Romans were more than eager to conveniently wrap up three of their favorite passions--capturing slaves from the native population, building public baths and mythology--into one, big, flashy new town. They called it Aquae Sulis, or "Waters of Sulis," and the focal point for the town was an enormous public bath center dedicated to a new goddess, Sulis Minerva; Sulis was the Celtic goddess, and Minerva was a Roman one that had a lot of similarities, so they just morphed the two into one. Needless to say, the commonalities helped win over the native Celtic Britons as they adapted to Roman ways.
The baths at Aquae Sulis were enormous, and they were literally centuries ahead of their time in terms of technology. Frankly, they were sweet. People used them every day, and often merchants, politicians and anybody else who could afford to spend time off the farm would spend hours in the baths. I was surprised to find that patrons couldn't enter the main bath until they were clean. So, the whole building was actually a series of rooms...
The Romans came over to present-day England (Britannia, as they called it) around 40 AD, and made it to Bath shortly afterward. They heard of a "magic" hot spring that an ancient tribe of Celts had been venerating in the name of a goddess they called Sulis, and being the culture-mixers/-hijackers they had always been, the Romans were more than eager to conveniently wrap up three of their favorite passions--capturing slaves from the native population, building public baths and mythology--into one, big, flashy new town. They called it Aquae Sulis, or "Waters of Sulis," and the focal point for the town was an enormous public bath center dedicated to a new goddess, Sulis Minerva; Sulis was the Celtic goddess, and Minerva was a Roman one that had a lot of similarities, so they just morphed the two into one. Needless to say, the commonalities helped win over the native Celtic Britons as they adapted to Roman ways.
The baths at Aquae Sulis were enormous, and they were literally centuries ahead of their time in terms of technology. Frankly, they were sweet. People used them every day, and often merchants, politicians and anybody else who could afford to spend time off the farm would spend hours in the baths. I was surprised to find that patrons couldn't enter the main bath until they were clean. So, the whole building was actually a series of rooms...
Room 1: "Locker room." Undress, rinse off.
Room 2: Massage Room. Lay down on a table, get massaged with olive oil which lifts dirt off skin.
Room 3: Hot room. The floor was built upon a hollow chamber, supported by small columns of clay tile. Water from the spring was partially diverted to the hollow chamber underneath the floor. A fire was lit in one corner of the room, and the hot air warmed the water to near-boiling, making the room blazing hot. The bathers would sweat, and use brushes to lift the oil and dirt from off their skin...
Room 2: Massage Room. Lay down on a table, get massaged with olive oil which lifts dirt off skin.
Room 3: Hot room. The floor was built upon a hollow chamber, supported by small columns of clay tile. Water from the spring was partially diverted to the hollow chamber underneath the floor. A fire was lit in one corner of the room, and the hot air warmed the water to near-boiling, making the room blazing hot. The bathers would sweat, and use brushes to lift the oil and dirt from off their skin...
Left: Fire-heated water being circulated to the hollow chamber underneath the floor, warming the whole room. Right: the columns upon which rested the floor. Hot water flowed in between the columns.
Room 4: Cold bath. After sweating profusely and brushing off the vast majority of the impurities in the hot room, bathers would jump into a refreshingly cold pool, rinse off, and then jump out.
Room 5: The Main Bath. By now, the bathers were completely clean, and they could spend their day in the hot spring-fed pool. How great does this sound: the water was a constant 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the spring was so efficient and "bountiful" that the entire pool was continuously being filled and drained so that the bath had essentially fresh water every few minutes. At the poolside were places to sit, eat, converse and relax.
After about 400 years of bathing in their own awesomeness, the Romans sadly had to return to Italy to defend their falling empire. What's worse, the Romans never bothered to show the native Britons how to construct in the Roman way. In the Romans' absence, the Britons had no idea how to take care of the baths, use clay or do any of the other necessary things to keep the most advanced architecture they had ever seen from crumbling to the ground. And that's exactly what happened. The baths collapsed in upon themselves (they were completely roofed, by the way), the Britons came and went, and years of flooding and mudslides buried the Roman structures. It wasn't until the 1880s that a Bath citizen's house started to mysteriously flood. A prominent British civil engineer was brought in, and he and his team began digging. They eventually hit what once had been the floor of the main pool, and the engineer knew they had stumbled upon something special. He convinced the city to buy up all the houses in the vicinity in order to continue excavating, and within a decade, they had unearthed the most complete Roman bathhouse in the world. They built a Georgian-style museum atop the ruins, and the rest is history.
History lesson over. We, of course, went to visit the Roman Baths Museum. The bath, as it stands today, is only original up to about six feet from the ground, but that's okay, because the whole system (draining, filling, everything) still works as perfectly as it did almost 2,000 years ago! I always knew the Roman civilization was impressive, but until I saw Bath, I had never fully appreciated their collective brilliance and influence on technological progress...
Left: the opening of the natural hot spring, looking and working exactly as it did for the Romans 2,000 years ago. Right: how the Roman bath complex of Aquae Sulis probably looked around 200 ADRoom 5: The Main Bath. By now, the bathers were completely clean, and they could spend their day in the hot spring-fed pool. How great does this sound: the water was a constant 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and the spring was so efficient and "bountiful" that the entire pool was continuously being filled and drained so that the bath had essentially fresh water every few minutes. At the poolside were places to sit, eat, converse and relax.
After about 400 years of bathing in their own awesomeness, the Romans sadly had to return to Italy to defend their falling empire. What's worse, the Romans never bothered to show the native Britons how to construct in the Roman way. In the Romans' absence, the Britons had no idea how to take care of the baths, use clay or do any of the other necessary things to keep the most advanced architecture they had ever seen from crumbling to the ground. And that's exactly what happened. The baths collapsed in upon themselves (they were completely roofed, by the way), the Britons came and went, and years of flooding and mudslides buried the Roman structures. It wasn't until the 1880s that a Bath citizen's house started to mysteriously flood. A prominent British civil engineer was brought in, and he and his team began digging. They eventually hit what once had been the floor of the main pool, and the engineer knew they had stumbled upon something special. He convinced the city to buy up all the houses in the vicinity in order to continue excavating, and within a decade, they had unearthed the most complete Roman bathhouse in the world. They built a Georgian-style museum atop the ruins, and the rest is history.
History lesson over. We, of course, went to visit the Roman Baths Museum. The bath, as it stands today, is only original up to about six feet from the ground, but that's okay, because the whole system (draining, filling, everything) still works as perfectly as it did almost 2,000 years ago! I always knew the Roman civilization was impressive, but until I saw Bath, I had never fully appreciated their collective brilliance and influence on technological progress...
Left: Sentinels and Caesars keeping watch. Right: on the upper level, with the Gothic Anglican Bath Abbey, another famous sight, in the background.
Not too shabby.
Not too shabby.Day 2/Darjeeling with Dickens. And then Cardiff.
After waking up, getting a decent breakfast, and checking out Bath Abbey (the main Anglican church in Bath), we decided to check out a local favorite: Sally Lunn's. In business since 1680, Sally Lunn's is been widely known across Britain as one of the nation's best teahouses, so I wasn't about to leave Bath without going. They are famous for their tea, enormous "Sally Lunn Buns" and, of course, for the historical atmosphere. It wasn't by any means a snooty place, but the waitresses dressed in early-20th century outfits and plaques on the wall noted famous patrons of the teahouse, including Charles Dickens. Apparently, he stopped there quite often and is thought to have even authored some of his stories while sipping tea and eating buns. We all got a cinnamon and butter bun, and I ordered what turned out to be a pretty phenomenal pot of tea. Moral of the story: if you ever get to Bath, order a Darjeeling at Sally Lunn's; you won't be disappointed...
Left: a fantastic cup of tea. Right: warm, fluffy, sugary, buttery. Happiness on a plate, basically.
After waking up, getting a decent breakfast, and checking out Bath Abbey (the main Anglican church in Bath), we decided to check out a local favorite: Sally Lunn's. In business since 1680, Sally Lunn's is been widely known across Britain as one of the nation's best teahouses, so I wasn't about to leave Bath without going. They are famous for their tea, enormous "Sally Lunn Buns" and, of course, for the historical atmosphere. It wasn't by any means a snooty place, but the waitresses dressed in early-20th century outfits and plaques on the wall noted famous patrons of the teahouse, including Charles Dickens. Apparently, he stopped there quite often and is thought to have even authored some of his stories while sipping tea and eating buns. We all got a cinnamon and butter bun, and I ordered what turned out to be a pretty phenomenal pot of tea. Moral of the story: if you ever get to Bath, order a Darjeeling at Sally Lunn's; you won't be disappointed...
Left: a fantastic cup of tea. Right: warm, fluffy, sugary, buttery. Happiness on a plate, basically.
We left Bath and drove in a fairly miserable rainstorm all the way to Cardiff, the capital of Wales. I really wish I could say nice things about Cardiff, but I can't. Honestly, it was the biggest disappointment any of us have had since arriving in September except for the fact that nobody has said "Pip pip!" yet. Anthony said that it was like visiting Rockford, Illinois, where he's from. I've been to Rockford before; Cardiff is a close second place. Our hostel wasn't special, the city was pretty boring, and to top it all off, we got a parking ticket. The highlight of our time spent there was either my Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich from Subway or seeing The Duchess, Keira Knightley's new movie. There wasn't even anything interesting enough to get me to take a picture.
Day 3/"Hey, how about going to Oxford?"-
Since we didn't want to go home completely disappointed after what had begun as a nice weekend, we decided to take a slight detour to visit Oxford. Incidentally, my sister-in-law, also a Marquette alum, studied abroad in Oxford when she was at school. In fact, she might have been responsible for planting the seed in my head to go study abroad when I was old enough. I was only about 7 years old at the time, but it was cool to visit a place that I have heard about from her.
We only spent about an hour in the town, but walking outside of the forty colleges that comprise the world-famous University of Oxford was interesting. The colleges are almost like fraternities that students join when applying to Oxford. They all have their own residences, students stay within their college for four years, each college has some degree of autonomy, but they aren't subject-specific, and they are all under the jurisdiction of the University. The closest comparison an American could draw to Oxford's structure is probably that of Rice University in Houston or Yale, in that people become very attached to their dorm's unique culture...
Day 3/"Hey, how about going to Oxford?"-
Since we didn't want to go home completely disappointed after what had begun as a nice weekend, we decided to take a slight detour to visit Oxford. Incidentally, my sister-in-law, also a Marquette alum, studied abroad in Oxford when she was at school. In fact, she might have been responsible for planting the seed in my head to go study abroad when I was old enough. I was only about 7 years old at the time, but it was cool to visit a place that I have heard about from her.
We only spent about an hour in the town, but walking outside of the forty colleges that comprise the world-famous University of Oxford was interesting. The colleges are almost like fraternities that students join when applying to Oxford. They all have their own residences, students stay within their college for four years, each college has some degree of autonomy, but they aren't subject-specific, and they are all under the jurisdiction of the University. The closest comparison an American could draw to Oxford's structure is probably that of Rice University in Houston or Yale, in that people become very attached to their dorm's unique culture...
Left: a really famous arch thing, but I can't remember what it was called. Right: Radcliffe Camera, built in 1737, and houses humanities texts.
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