Wednesday, September 4, 2013

London - Stonehenge - Salisbury - Bath - Newport, Wales

We left London this morning (Wednesday) about 8:00 – but not before I had a major crisis.  We were to have our bags outside our hotel door by 6:45 a.m., so being the efficient person that I am, I took out what I needed for the next day and put the bag out before I went to bed.  The next morning, after noticing that the bags had already been picked up and taken to the bus, I discovered that I had no pants (trousers) to wear.  What I thought was a pair of pants was actually a sweatshirt – but no pants.  YIKES!  I called the hotel desk in a panic and they asked me to come down to identify my bag.  I wondered (out loud) how they thought that was possible with nothing to wear.  It got worked out very nicely, but not without some very concerning moments on my part.  Can you believe I would do anything that foolish????

First stop was Stonehenge.  It is believed that this monument evolved between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C.  Some of the theories for its existence are:  religious rituals; research on movements of the sun, moon, and stars; a calendar; or simply a show of power to whomever that was important for 

.Next stop was Salisbury, England - cute little town of about 85,000 people with another wonderful cathedral.  It has the tallest spire in Britain at 404 feet, it has the world’s oldest mechanical working clock dating from 1386, and it has the earliest surviving complete choir stalls in Britain (1236).

Next stop was in Bath, England, where the Roman baths (hence the name of the town) were built in the early part of the first century.  They were built around a natural hot springs.  Unfortunately after listening to much of the recording we were given for the self guided tour, I don’t remember anything else.  J

Final stop (for the night) was in Newport, Wales.  We crossed over the Severn River and Wales was on the other side.  Within a few hundred yards there was a toll booth with a sign that read, “Offensive behavior toward tolling staff will lead to prosecution.”  How about that?  The toll for our bus was 18 English pounds which would be approximately $27.00.


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