Lots of Old Rocks

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Today was quite a day. We left London at 8a.m. together with the science kids and took a coach out to Stonehenge. I have to say, driving through rural English countryside is a lot like driving up to Carlisle, except on the wrong side of the road. And there were a lot of sheep. Leah and I have plans to kidnap one.
I was sort of taken by surprise when we pulled off the highway and there was this big stone construction on the field, just minding its own business. Not quite the approach I had imagined for my visit to the famous henge. I must say, I was a little underwhelmed. Especially since the stones were roped off and we couldn’t walk amongst them like Tess and Angel. Honestly, is Hardy the only author to write about Stonehenge? I walked around with one of those audio tour things, and the last lecture ended with a quote from Tess of the D’Urbervilles when Hardy describes Tess and Angel’s first impressions of the stones as the sun rises. Such an old monument, such a famous one. You’d think someone would have come up with something more significant to say than what Hardy wrote. They’re at Stonehenge for, what? One chapter, maybe two? Maybe I should write a book about Stonehenge, one that actually deserves to be quoted in the audio guide.

As for the actual stones, they weren’t quite as big as I had imagined, and, for some reason, all of the pictures and documentaries of the site had always made the circle look more complete. Oh well. At least I saw that documentary on the Discovery Channel over the summer. It gave the visit slightly more significance. I agree with the druids who were protesting outside the gift shop. Their banners said things like “Set Free The Stones!” I’m not sure if they were arguing for the complete abandonment of the Stonehenge tourist industry, or if they, like many others, want the government to build an underground tunnel for the nearby highway so that the structure can regain some of its original peace and sanctity. In any case, they are trying to give some of the mystery back to Salisbury Plain. Why not move the highway, and any tourist who wants to see Stonehenge will have to trek through the open fields (well, it was wooded 2000 years ago) just like everyone else who wanted to go there throughout the years.

From Stonehenge we drove to Bath, about three hours west of London. The bus dropped us of in front of Bath Abbey and we were free to talk around and get lunch before our tour of the baths. A bunch of us wandered downtown. The city is so beautiful, and surprisingly well preserved. I guess because it used to be a resort destination, they kept it quaint, but it really did add to the tranquil mystery of the place. Not a lot of businessmen in suits running to the office, nor busy tourists running from one tour to the next. There were tourists aplenty, to be sure, but the pace was slower and people were content to simply wander the streets, walk through the Royal Victoria Gardens, and do a little window shopping in all the shops. I don’t know if I can compare it to London, necessarily. It’s smaller, certainly, and not as busy, but there was just a general pleasantness. Maybe this was just because it was a gorgeous day. And prices were generally lower than in London, which always makes me happy.
Leah and I broke off from our group to stop at a small café where we bought our first pasties. Delicious. I guess the best way to describe a pasty is a like an apple turn-over but filled with vegetables, meats, and cheeses. Leah and I both got one filled with onions, potatoes, and cheese, and it was absolutely fabulous. Who says the British have bad food? I haven’t had a bad meal yet.
We ate our pasties, stopped at a pub called the Huntsman for a glass of lemonade, and walked through a few back-streets. After wandering around for a while with Leah, drinking in the beauty of the landscape, we headed back toward Bath Abbey for our tour of the Roman Baths.

I was wonderful to see well-preserved Roman ruins for once. In London, everything’s so built up and even the remains that we saw on our tour of Roman London were scarce and rather time-worn. The Baths were incredible, and just to look at the level of thought and engineering that went into the place…it’s awe-inspiring how advanced the Romans were, and how far civilization fell after they left. The building that housed the baths had an arched ceiling made from hollow tiles. They had plumbing, running water, and heated floors. After the collapse of Rome, Britain didn’t have decent plumbing until, arguably, the 19th century. Even today they’re still replacing old Victorian pipelines in London that aren’t functioning properly, when the lead pipes of Bath have been working for almost two thousand years.

The waters of the springs, perhaps due to their mineral content or perhaps due to mystical powers, are still considered to have healing and cleansing properties. In the Pump Room, a very expensive restaurant and tea room at the baths, you can buy a glass of water from the hot springs (it’s been treated!) for 50p. I did. It tasted funny.

A little history of the hot springs at Bath: They were discovered by a Celtic prince named Bladud somewhere around 860 B.C. Unfortunately, poor Bladud was a leper, and he was banished to become a swineherd (pig farmer). One day he was herding his pigs near the hot springs. The pigs went for a bath in the springs and (to quote Prof. Rudalevige), “when they emerged Bladud swore they were the most beautiful swine he had ever seen.” This is why there were painted statues of pigs all over the city (like Cow Parade). Bladud decided to try the springs for himself, and was magically cured of his leprosy. To celebrate the power of the spring, he built a temple to the goddess Sulis, the sun goddess who kept the springs warm. Bladud returned to his father’s court and, in time, was made king. Later, a Celtic cult to Sulis grew up around the springs. When the Romans arrived in Bath in about 60 AD, they identified Sulis, who was also the goddess of wisdom, with Minerva, and built a temple to the combined goddess Sulis Minerva. In fact, the Romans called Bath “Aquae Sulis,” or “the waters of Sulis.” Thus, they easily won over the Celts and began to build the baths around the hot springs. But Aquae Sulis collapsed with the fall of Rome, and the baths fell into decay until 675, when King Osric set up a monastery there. King Offa rebuilt the monastery about a hundred years later, and, in 973, the Saxon King Edgar was crowned in Bath Abbey. The town began to develop a serious reputation as a spa and resort town during the Georgian era, and now the baths are the major tourist attraction in one of Britain’s most historically significant cities.

One of the other major tourist attractions in Bath is the Jane Austen Centre on Gay Street, near to where Jane Austen lived while in the city from 1800 to 1806. After the tour of the Roman Baths, we had the rest of the day to explore Bath, so I wandered up that way. I was disappointed to learn that, not only was the Center NOT Jane Austen’s actual house, but that they were charging ₤5 for a tour that basically consisted of rooms decorated as if they were from the 19th century and a collection of recreated 19th century clothing. I’ll just watch the BBC, thanks.

I walked up to the Circus, a round-about surrounded by expensive, posh Georgian townhouses built by John Wood. That’s where my favorite pig is. There’s a clown painted on it, and a ribbon that reads “Ceci n’est pas un cochon.” For those of you who don’t speak French, it means “This is not a pig.” Which it isn’t. It’s a statue of a pig. The joke comes from a painting of a pipe by Magritte which reads “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” “This is not a pipe.” And it’s not. It’s a picture of a pipe.
I then walked to the Royal Crescent, also a line of spiffy Georgian townhouses designed by John Wood. I tried to find Leah and Chad and ended up walking over to Royal Victoria Park before I found them. Meghan met up with us and then, as we were walking back downtown, we ran into Sarah and Abby. We all decided to get some tea, and we sat on some benches and chatted for a bit. Then everyone split up. I went downtown to continue window shopping. Actually, there were some nice sales going on, so I might have bought something, but, even with the sales, and even being outside of London, things were still too much for me. I’m stingy. I did, however, find some gorgeous boots for ₤16, but they didn’t have my size. Pity.

Finally, it was getting late, so I walked back to the abbey to wait for the bus. I met Tristan in the courtyard, and we talked about Eddie Izzard for a while. “Building a henge, are we? That sounds like a fantastic idea!” Anyway, the bus came and we drove back to London. The end.