5000 years in one day.

Rain showers first thing had me a bit concerned, but it cleared up again quickly, and we had another sunny day. There were some ocassional sprinkles during the day, but nothing too bad.

We went to Stonehenge first thing this morning, and it was ferociously windy, to the point where you really fell like you were going to fall over. Stonehenge is on a big plane, without a lot of wind barriers. On the way there, we saw a sign for Legoland on the highway, and both Greg and I almost demanded that the bus pull over. Sigh... so much to see, so little time. We were going to make it historical and build our own Stonehenge. You know, bridge the 5000 year time period we were covering today.

After that, we went to Bath to see the remains of the ancient Roman baths. It was pretty amazing to see the remains that were so old. The floors were all gone, but you could see the under floors, where there were stacks of flat, square stones to separate the floors from the heated subfloors. The bath itself is uncovered now, so it was full of nasty slime. On the way out, though, you could buy a glass of the pure (warm!) mineral water. Greg and I shared one, to take advantage of its natural healing powers... Verdict's still out, but it tasted pretty bad. But, hey, legend has it that it cured leprosy, so it's worth it.

At both Stonehenge and the Baths, we got audio tours, but one of the super cool things about Bath was that there was the traditional tour, but there was also a Bill Bryson commentary, which was much more interesting.

We picked up a quick lunch to eat on the bus as we headed through the Cotswolds to Stratford-upon-Avon (brie, tomato and basil on a baguette). The Cotswolds, as I learned today, are a series of small little 'market' towns on these green rolling hills. It's so incredible how old some of the houses and buildings are here. The area is so green - just grasses (and sheep) on the hills for as far as you can see. All of the farms are divided by miles and miles of hedges. There are some huge manor houses that we passed that were just incredible.


The towns in the Cotswolds all seemed to have really cool names, and it was neat to see some of the names of the 'original' towns before they were imported to New England, like the village of Pennsylvania. There was also Stow-on-the-Wold, Moreton-in-Marsh, Bourton-on-the-Water. As we were driving through one of the little towns, there was a warning sign -- the same one used for water fowl crossings, deer crossings, etc, that said "Elderly People." Too funny.



About two hours after we left Bath, we arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon and went to Shakespeare's birth place. I learned that Avon is just an old English word for river, so there are lots of "Avons" in England. We went through the museum and the house. I got a mug that has a bunch of Shakespearean insults on it (there was a set of magents, too, but I thought the mug was more ... practical.) A sampling... "O gull, O dolt, as ignorant as dirt" "I do desire we may be better strangers." "Elvish-mark'd abortive, rooting hog" "All the infections that the sun sucks up." "Beetle-headed flap-eared knave" "No so much brain as ear wax" "A fusty nut with no kernel" "Canker-blossom." Ok, *I* thought it was funny.





On a small side street near the musuem, we found these phrases in the sidewalk. Anyone know what they reference? A children's book???

We stopped for tea and scones (with clotted cream) before heading back to London. The traffic on the way back was pretty painful, a parking lot at several points. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was nearly 9 and we hadn't eaten dinner. We decided to stay close to the hotel again and went to the Goumet Burger Kitchen (we figured that only somebody really desperate would be taking their mum to a burger restaurant at 9pm on Mother's Day). The burgers were literaly 6 inches tall, and it wouldn't fit in your mouth. I tried an avocado and bacon burger, and all of the avocado ended up smushed up onto the plate by the 2nd or 3rd bite. But it was good, and we shared some fries dipped in blue cheese sauce. When we got there, it was pretty empty, and we figured we'd be closing it down, but it filled up after we got there. Didn't look like any mums, though.