Saturday, August 28, 2010

What up, Stonehenge?

Hi hi ... I'm back. No, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. Sleeping is just such an addiction in the U.K. I keep pretending I haven't gotten over jet lag, but mostly, I just have such a light class load that sleeping till noon has become a pretty common occurrence! I'm hoping to drop this habit, however, because there's a lot of London I still want to see and I'm going to need to make the most of my days here!

Yesterday was our day trip to Stonehenge/Bath. And it was fantastic. But before I get into that, here's a bit of what you've missed from my last post to this one. 

Tyler secured his internship at the SoHo Theatre!! Super excited for him, especially since we stalked Mark Ravenhill (the author of the show we produced this summer?!) in the theatre when we went there to check it out. Pretty legitimate. This is Ty all dressed up for his interview. 
I'd hire him!
 Also, here's the illegal photo I snapped of the Criterion Theatre where we saw 39 Steps  ... a hilarious show, only 4 actors in the company, and definitely a fun evening out!
Pink interior ... always a good idea.
Karyl, Chanea, and I at the pub after Romeo and Juliet
  We also saw Romeo and Juliet at the Lion and the Unicorn Theatre, which had an adjoining pub, conveniently enough! The show was sub-standard ... it was part of a fringe festival (low-budget theatre with companies or groups of actors), and also an all-female cast interestingly enough. I appreciated it for what it was, although I'm more excited about the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of R&J we get to see later on while we're here. 

Aaaand thus begins our journey! We got up painfully early to hop on the coach bus and take off for the 2 hour journey to Stonehenge and the additional hour to Bath. Tyler felt sick most of the way there, so I alternated between helping, trying not to fall back asleep, and angsting at the tour guide CAPA hired to chaperone, since he insisted on chat chat chatting about London fairly loudly at 7:30 in the morning. Fail. 

We arrived at Stonehenge, and my first glimpse proved that it was about the size I anticipated. No bigger or smaller, and there were lots of sheep. I didn't expect the sheep. They obviously weren't frolicking around Stonehenge itself, but in the plains surrounding it. 

It was verrrrry collllld.
Our nifty audio tours, hayyyy!
Our Stonehenge Sorority Shot
Southwestern @ Stonehenge

Sooo, that was Stonehenge. It was very pretty and very intriguing ... the audio tour was very informative and filled us in on the history and possible theories that brought it there. Aliens is, of course, one of the main theories. However, my favorite theory was the Healing Powers theory that believes that if someone with ailments or diseases bathes in the center of the ring of stones, they will be healed of their ailments. Giving that Stonehenge is such a revered and sacred site, regardless of its origin, I liked that theory the best. 

After Stonehenge, we hopped back on the bus and journeyed another hour to the city of Bath. It. Was. Gorgeous. Our first sight was the Abbey of Bath, which I couldn't stop taking pictures of! It was amazing ... and of course the main Roman Bath House where the ancient people would gather to bath and access the natural hot spring that we got to see when we took our tour. Most of the main house has been preserved, so it was a really neat site. We got an hour at the beginning to take off by ourselves and get lunch, sight-see, and shop (there were sooo many stores!) before the main walking tour as a group. I kept trying to celebrity spot, as Bath is a very popular location for celebrities. Jane Seymour owns a house there and Johnny Depp is a frequent visitor! Tyler found a Robert Pattinson's look-a-like, Jasper from Twilight's look-a-like, and I found another of Stanley Tucci. We definitely found ways to amuse ourselves before taking off on the walking tour of Bath and then, finally - the main attraction! - The Roman Bath House. 

Classin' it up in Bath.
Hmm, Disney in Bath?
These lions were all over Bath - a fundraiser, and very amusing
The Scrabble Lion! I thought the King family would appreciate this one...
Jane Austen lived here while she was writing Northanger Abbey!
The Royal Crescent

Finally, we got to venture into the Roman Bath House, where we received more little devices that looked like cellular phones from the 80s that we punched numbers into to hear the history of the Roman Baths. It was brilliant -- the baths were a great sight and all of the history was very interesting. We had fun venturing in and out of the exhibits and "chatting and texting" on our "phones".


My favorite picture of the Bath and the Abbey in the background
Me at the Baths!

Tyler at the Baths!
After our jaunt at Bath, we headed home on the looong 3 hour drive, but got to see the beautiful English countryside simultaneously. I mostly read and Tyler slept along with the rest of the bus. Some of our friends started a game of "Count the English Cows" but gave up around the 400s or so. 

Chanea and Ian counting cows
 Tyler and I were starving after our day's journey and took off on a massive hunt for pizza in Kensington. Our hunt was not successful, however, and we headed home to make spaghetti. Which, actually, turned out to be quite a success in and of itself. 


Our Successful Spaghetti
That's all for now. I have classes all this week and a tentative Shakespeare performance of either The Tempest or Comedy of Errors at the Globe! I'll keep ya updated :)

2 comments:

  1. First off: You look BEAUTIFUL! London is treating you well :)
    Second: I love that squishy hat that you wear, it is too cute!
    Third: Count the English Sheep sounds like the funnest game ever!
    Fourth: That house that Jane Austen lived in? Can WE live there?
    Fifth: I miss you like crazy
    Sixth: I love your pictures!
    <3 <3 <3 you best friend!

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  2. Your blog is too freakin cute, you better keep it up. I'm very nostalgic for my days in London and of having a 'light corse load." Also, I second rachel about the hat, it's adorable on you, and the picture of you and boyfriend peaking over your shoulder is awesome, definitely frame worthy. Bath was one of my favorite things in the UK, I'm glad you got to do that already. If you make it to whales you need to stop at Tintern Abbey, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. Anyway, keep updating and I'll keep reading!
    L&L always, Clare

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