Stonehenge and the Roman Baths

Sunday, we got to ride two hours on a bus to Stonehenge. It was quite different to travel in a vehicle above ground, rather than using the underground like we have been the past week. The countryside of the country was very beautiful. We saw many sheep and lambs along with pigs, horses and dairy cows. The country is so green because of their amounts of moisture.

Stonehenge was really amazing to see in person. Just thinking about how long it would take to drag the huge stones to the location that they are in is amazing. The “Blue Stones” came from mountains in Wales, about 150 from Stonehenge. This is quite a distance especially back then. They moved them by using tree logs and rolling them. There were also mounds around that were burial sites for people. Small mounds were for just one person, the larger and longer ones were made for several people. It was explained that the building of Stonehenge was no coincidence. The summer solstice creates the sunrise on Stonehenge just right because it is the longest day of the year. Then, the winter solstice creates the opposite effect because of the days getting longer. There were also 56 holes found around the site that marks the 56 weeks in a year. They originally thought that these holes were occupied by other stones but now they say they held bodies of humans. There are many theories as to why Stonehenge was built. I tend to agree with the theory of Stonehenge being a place for healing and sacrifice because of all the bodies found around the site including a child of about age 4 with their head bashed in. This would symbolize sacrifice because it was such a young child and the bashing of the head was a quicker way to die. However, the true reason of why Stonehenge was built remains unknown.

Then, we got to go to the Roman Baths. We saw the spring that bubbles up from the ground. The Romans built a spa over one of the three springs and it was magnificent. There were also many different sculptures and parts of the architecture design from the original spa that they had in a museum which were really interesting to see. The rich used to come to Bath to waste time and the poor used to come in hopes to meet someone to marry. The middle class didn’t really partake in the spa of bath. The actual big bath that is outside is all green because of algae, but at the end there was a fountain that had clear warm water that you could try. It tasted so bad, almost like a bunch of pennies that had been soaking in water and then you drank it. You could literally taste the different minerals in it. Our tour guide even said that ladies would go there in hopes of becoming more fertile and to help her conceive if she drank the water. Then of course, she warned Bryson and I about this and we both blushed. All in all it was a great Sunday in England.