29th May 2010
We hopped onto an early National Express coach to Salisbury and arrived slightly after 10 a.m. At the terminal, we bought a ticket each that included transport to-and-fro the bus terminal, as well as admission to see the Stonehenge.
#1 the bus
The driver was really friendly and told us (everyone actually) the best seats are on the upper deck so...
#2 where we sat
The bus ride took like 30 minutes, and along the way, we passed by many vast fields of bright yellow and green. Grabbed our sets of audio guides at the booth, and we were good to go!
#3 backpacker-wannabes
The stones were as majestic-looking as I'd expected them to be (from what I learnt on the Internet), and we also learnt a fair bit of their history; you know, the kind of stuff that you'll remember for an hour or two before bidding them goodbye (I'm not very inclined towards history as you can probably tell by now). It was great, nonetheless, to finally be able to see them in their concreteness, and be awed by the sight of these big stones. In all honesty, I've really forgotten most of what we heard on the audio guides, about how they were constructed, or information about their ceremonial uses, etc... so, I'm just going to leave you with the pictures that I've taken.
#4 first glimpse
#5 tourist 1 with the stones
#6 tourist 2
#7 second look
#8 third
#9 trying to self-time, attempt 1
#10 run too slow.
#11 hurry!
#12 fail.
#13 finally. and this is what you need a tripod for :p
#14 baaaaaaaaaaaaah
#15 baaah (shorter bah, because this picture got lesser mehmehs)
#16 from another angle; with an anchor now
#17 last look before we left
Hopped back onto the bus, and sitting in front of us was this cute guy who spoke Spanish; he'd turn back from time to time, and he'd smile the sweetest smile whenever our sights crossed paths. We got off at the railway station and went out separate ways; no romantic ending, and totally anti-climax. So sad!
Then, we caught the next available train to Bath Spa, where we going to spend our night. The hostel (St Christopher's Inn) was a 10-minute walk away from the railway station; and it was going to be my first time sleeping in a shared dorm. Checked in, got some information from the lovely reception girls and made our way quickly to the Roman Bath. Paid student concession rates for both of us (the perks of being a student), and we spent the next 2 hours or so roaming the grounds where the Romans here used to bathe, armed with our audio guides and cameras.
#18 tourist 2
#19 tourists 2&1; and this is what we used the tripod for.
#20 the upper level
#21 Tiny people; museum exhibit
#22 replicas
#23 just another artifact
(Due to my geography ignorance) I found it really amazing that water from the ground can be so warm despite the cold weather conditions. And... hats off to the ancient Romans for coming up with their ingenious heating solutions.
#24 underground water
#25 I think we will all find it hard to believe that the greenish waters were once clear.
#26 pose.
#27 pose some more.
#28 hold your breath and enjoy the view
#29 I made her pose for me
#30 trying to fit into seats that were too big for our asses.
#31 must.pose.with.fake.Roman.guard.
#32 I tried to be a little taller heehee.
After our little Roman Bath Spa walkabout, we visited Bath Abbey, sat on one of the many rows of benches in there and watched as some sort of performance rehearsal was going on all the way at the front. I loved all the intricate details and colours there were on the stained windows, walls, walkways and doors.
#33 Bath Abbey
#34 the men who sang
#35 from the back
#36 stained.
An old lady told us the abbey was closing, so we left and made our way to Sainsbury, got us some microwave food for dinner and brought them back to the hostel. We spent the longest time at the hostel's lounge, trying to book accommodation for Lake District, where we were going in a few days' time. We were going to meet with the bank holidays when we are there, so most of the B&B rooms that we found online were already booked. We went to bed after many futile phone calls.
Sleeping in the dorm wasn't that bad at night; it's only in the morning when you get woken up by a few other backpackers' snores, or someone rummaging through their backpacks noisily that you get a little grumpy. Oh, and you'll probably be -_-'" of the queue in the shower too; two cubicles to be shared by a dorm of 12 people. Apart from these few little gripes, sleeping in a dorm is really not too bad if you want to save some money. I mean, you can always wake up late/learn to be a heavy sleeper ma.
#37 Random street; most of them are clean and I love the old buildings.
#38 exchange. okay a bit dark, cannot see much of the details
#39 another wait
After a very hasty breakfast (ooh I love English breakfasts, even the buffet-styled ones), we donned our backpacks and got back to the railway station. We were going to our next destination, Cardiff!
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