Anthropological Rants

Stonehenge!
Stonehenge is really really really cool.

I've heard mixed reactions from people who have visited it. Some say they were thrilled, others were bored. A lot of people said they were simply disapointed, that it wasn't what they expected.

I absolutely loved it.

So I woke up this morning at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep. Excited. We decided on taking an actual tour rather than making it there on our own because a) we'd get lost since it's in the middle of nowhere and b) it is actually cheaper to take a tour. We got picked up at London Bridge and drove around London for an hour, picking up other people at various spots. It was actually quite fun, I haven't driven around London before.

Stonehenge is about a 2 hour drive away from London. The tour guide was chirpy and vaguely informative, with several interesting stories about random stuff we drove by during the trip. As we got closer to Stonehenge itself, she talked about the construction of it and stuff and was actually quite accurate. (They probably hate having arrogant archaeologists on their tours!) Anyways, we drove up a hill, over the top and BAM! There it is in front of you. Aside from the road, there is nothing but green grass all around it, so it really jumps out at you. Very powerful. Admission was included in our tour, so we got to go inside. You can't actually go right up to the stones, it's roped off, but you can circle around them at a pretty decent distance. I took a lot of pictures (soon to be posted on facebook). But seriously, it was so cool. I think it helps that I'm an archaeologist and that I studied Stonehenge in school, so I knew exactly what a cool amazing thing it is. Some people just think it's a bunch of rocks.

As I walked towards the end of the circle, my camera died. The batteries were quite recent, so I had assumed they would last another day but apparantly I was wrong. And then my spare batteries didn't work. And the then camera broke and I couldn't get the non-working batteries out. And then it started to rain. No, not just little sprinkles, total complete downpour. I was completely soaked in seconds. I took refuge in the Stonehenge giftshop, bought a deck of Stonehenge playing cards (how could I not?) and some new batteries in the hope that I would eventually get my camera to work.

Also, we were at Stonehenge at 11:00am on Remembrance Day. 2 minutes of silence, at Stonehenge! Being loyal Canadians, Alicia and I attempted to say the Flanders Field poem, which Alicia was much more successful at than I was.

Anyways, soaking wet, I got back on the bus and we drove on to Bath, a city that is about an hours drive away from Stonehenge. Meanwhile, I was prying at my camera, almost to the point of throwing it out the window. Eventually, using a bunch of MacGyver moves, a coin and a watch, I got it open, replaced the batteries and could anticipate many happy pictures for the rest of the day.

Which I did.

Bath is awesome. It's a city that originally revolved around a Roman bath that survives in remarkably good condition. You can actually walk inside, see the different pools and changerooms and saunas. The aquaducts actually still work and it's all built over a natural heat spring. It was absolutely brilliant. The archaeologist in me was practically drooling. I took more pictures of that place than any other in my entire life (again, soon to be on facebook, likely in multiple albums!).

After we finally had our fill of the Roman Bath, we had a few hours to just wander around the city. It's a very touristy city now but it practically reeks of history. Everything just looks so old, so...European. We wandered past everything from where Jane Austin used to live to where David Livingston stayed for awhile. I saw the inside of a church built in 1499. I bought fudge and happily ate it. I took pictures of everything. Very cool.

Eventually we had to get back on the bus and go back to London. 3 hour drive home but it was fine. Too sleepy and tired to go to the pub quiz tonight though, I need to go to bed.

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