5 Cities in 2 Days

I have been to some of the most beautiful towns that no one cares about in England.

So first up on the tour was Avebury, which is this ancient rock formation made at the same time and on the same plain as Stonehenge. Which begs the question "Why two random rock formations?" but whatever. At that point, we didn't really get it and it was pouring rain and cold, so as we slipped through the mud and froze our asses off, we were taking joke pictures and mocking the fact that we went to go see big rocks. Woo hoo, right?

The rocks there weren't as smooth as the ones at Stonehenge, and were dragged a longer distance by another Celtic tribe hoping for fertility from big ass rocks in circles with ditches. I wonder if it worked out.

Next up was Glastonbury and the remains of its Abbey (church where the abbott lives). It was burnt down, rebuilt, then knocked down by Normans, then rebuilt, and then knocked down again, but there are still remains there. We had the best guide ever, this hobbit dude that told us everything we wanted to know about the place, and some we didn't. Apparently they faked King Arthur being buried there, and there's rumors of Joseph of Arimethea and Jesus and Mary going there, but if you look at dates, someone did some crap math.

We got to climb the Tor, AKA the really big hill in the town, and got to see the entire outlook of the area, which if my Facebook loads it, is GORGEOUS. The view was fantastic, and even though it was a crazy long walk, it was totally worth it.

Wells was after Glastonbury, where we saw yet another church (absolutely beautiful) and shopped around a little bit. Saw dog that looked so much like Zeus I teared up a little bit, and then we were off to the Bath YMCA for the night. Sarah made a joke that it would snow when we got there, and lo and behold, it totally did. Not for long, but the whole time we were waiting outside to get into the place it did. Thanks, Sarah.

We got to tour Bath the next day and look around the Roman Bath ruins still in the town. The baths were still hot to this day (albeit untreated), and it was really tempting to escape the 30 degree temperatures and jump in. We also got to see other stuff around the town, like the Royal Circus and Royal Crescent, as well as a family with a baby in a bar (more on that in another post).


Stonehenge was last, and I gotta tell you, it was more impressive in pictures than up close. We of course took the photos where it looked like we were carrying it (me and Steph) or placing stones in certain places (Sarah and Carrie) or jumping (Sarah and I) or grinning like an idiot really excited to see more rocks (Elise). But you aren't allowed to get close to it at all, and it's a much smaller circle than I thought it would be. And by that point, it's built up and something of a disappointment. Still cool, though.

Overall, it was a great trip. The bus was comfortable (except to sleep on), my iPod held out miraculously through the whole ordeal, as did my camera (others weren't so lucky). And I got some fun photos and such out of it.