England in a Day

Today Mark and I were up super early to head out for a 14 hour tour that pretty much took us all over England! We started off leaving from London and heading to Windsor Castle and getting there right when it opened to visitors, not to mention the Queen was there! Though we did not get to see her. Windsor castle is beautiful and I can see why it is the Queen's favorite residence. They do not allow pictures inside so I only have a few photos from the outside. Pretty much the gist of Windsor Castle is that the Royal family owns a lot of stuff from all over the world. They also own enormous palaces that go pretty much unused... I think I found the solution to world hunger, get the Queen to sell some of the stuff she doesn't use...

(So obviously I did not take this picture but it showed up on twitter while we were there. Look how cute Prince George is!!)

After Windsor Castle we were finally off to Stonehenge (the one place Mark actually wanted to go to). It was much warmer than I had expected and the sun came out while we were there which was amazing! Since the last time I was there in the beginning of the semester, the path around the stones was moved closer so you are about 5 feet from the outer rocks!

After Stonehenge we stopped at Lacock for lunch. Lacock is a little village that has been preserved to look like the original state. There are no electrical wires out or tv antenna. The city/ village is a common spot for filming! Harry Potter was filmed there and we got to walk the path that Harry and Dumbledore walk in Godrics Hollow!!!! 

Our last stop of the day was Bath. Unfortunately the Roman Baths were closed by the time we got there so we spent some time looking at the Christmas Market before grabbing some Hot Chocolate at the extravagant starbucks. 

By the time we got back we were so exhausted from our day and we have to get up early tomorrow to get Mark to the airport so it was bedtime for us! It seems like the weekend went by so quickly but I will be back home in less than a week and will get to see everyone again! 

Ancient Roman Bath

Today I visited the Ancient Roman Baths. It was such an interesting museum as it recreated the buildings that would have stood during Roman Britain inside the museum. It is extraordinary to see what life would have been like and how important the baths were to society.

The Baths were created when the Romans found a hot spring in the area. They then dug a large pit and sets of natural "pipes" to create a way to fill up and drain the pools with the hot mineral water. The baths also contained steam rooms and cold baths. Hundreds of servants and workers helped people use the bath everyday, either by working the rooms that helped the baths function or helping the people with cleaning and "primping." 

 Waterfall created to move the hot spring water into the baths

Actresses who told about what life would be like for a wealthy Roman and her servant

Bricks that held up the floor in the Sana-- The floor would have been at the red line painted on the wall.

A man who was buried in the Bath area by the temple.

Alter for sacrifices to the Gods, Largest alter from its era.

Original steps leading up to the baths in Roman time, the rest of the building is still in rubble buried under the ground

Gems from Roman rings that were found in the drain. The hot water would melt the glue holding the ring together and cause the gems to fall off in the water.

Since the baths are not cleaned, they are full of bacteria and other gunk(they are outside) turn the water green and therefore you cannot use them or touch the water

More of the "pipes" that would bring the fresh water into the bath.

At the end of the museum you can drink the water. It is Hot and full of minerals so it really did not taste good. It tasted like a mix of iron and sulfur. 

The Baths eventually grew out of style, but after the Middle Ages and into the Georgian period they were rediscovered and brought back to use. Within the past hundred years this site was put under construction as a museum and is now open to visitors! The upper level was recently created for visitors and statues of important Romans were created and placed around the balcony.

The far left statue is that of Constantine. On the opposite side(not pictured) is Caesar, the statues in between are other important Romans that ruled or were important between them. 

After visiting the actual baths we walked around the City of Bath. We saw the famous Architecture of John Wood and his son who create a society that wanted to be more in touch with each other and live as one. He first created a square with a courtyard in the middle. The houses all blend together and look like the Buckingham Palace. Next he became inspired by the Roman society and Prehistoric architecture He created a circle called the circus. The Circus was inspired by the sun and Pagan Gods from Roman. The actual architecture was based off Stonehenge and it's dimensions  Finally he began, and his son finished, the crescent. This was inspired by the moon and created a more naturesque feeling for its residence. 

The houses from the square

Many of Jane Austen's books are set in or draw inspiration from Bath. Here is an entire society dedicated to her!

The Circus

We looked these houses up, they go for about 1.5 million pounds ($2.49 million). A one room apartment would be around 500,000 pounds ($830,000).

Restored House on the Crescent

Carriage used to carry the wealthier people around town as the streets were polluted with sewage and other waste.

Model of the house

House #1 on the Crescent

My professor's kids have learned a new traditional English game! Conkers. It is played by putting a chestnut type nut on a string and hitting each other's to see who's will break first.