This week certainly makes up for the relative lack of adventures documented in the last post! I do apologize for how long it has taken to write this; being busy combined with Blogger uploading pictures with all the speed of a two-legged turtle has made things a bit difficult. However, due to the delay I am able to incorporate my visit to Portobello Road in this post, so I guess things worked out!
On Saturday (April 20th) our British Life and Culture class gathered in a coach bus and headed off to Stonehenge (about two hours away from Kingston) for our final class trip. I had planned to sleep on the way there as I had only gotten two hours of sleep after staying up all night streaming the Boston news and waiting for the bombing suspect to be apprehended (which was worth watching). However, I did not anticipate that the driver would put on a soundtrack of women's power anthems for the road trip. So instead of sleeping, I was dancing to It's Raining Men, Respect, and so on.
We arrived in Stonehenge and spent an hour walking around admiring the structure. Before I get to the pretty pictures (save the one right below this), let me talk a little bit about the history of Stonehenge.
Stonehenge took a long time to build; the process began around 3,300 B.C. and ended around 2,200 B.C. Building Stonehenge must have been quite an achievement for people who used deer antlers to dig the holes for the stones and used other stones to carve and shape the big ones. Given how big the stones are, it would take hundreds of well-organized people to drag the stones to the site. Some of the stones came from 240 miles away in Wales! The biggest mystery behind Stonehenge is, of course, why it was built. There are plenty of theories but we may never know the real reason. It has been known for a long time that Stonehenge aligns with the midsummer sunrise. This, combined with the fact that human remains have been found on the site, suggests that Stonehenge was a temple for worshipping the sun and/or the moon. The site could have also been used to make calculations about the movements of the sun, moon, and stars. Whatever the reason, it is certainly something to be admired. If you go visit though, note that you will be about 30 yards away from the stones at all times (unless you go during a solstice festival, in which case you and thousands of other people will be allowed to walk among the stones).
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| Stonehenge locals. |
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| Stonehenge surroundings. |
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| Glorious Stonehenge. |
After departing Stonehenge, we headed to Bath for the remainder of the day. Bath is the site of Aquae Sulis, a Roman city that existed from AD 43 to AD 410. There were natural hot springs there which had been used and worshipped for centuries before the arrival of the Romans. The Romans integrated themselves with the British by dedicating the new temple to Sulis Minerva, a combination of the pre-Roman deity Sul and the Roman goddess of wisdom and healing, Minerva. Just as it did then, the hot spring water now gushes out 250,000 gallons a day at a temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
Before visiting the actual Roman baths, we got a walking tour of the city and some free time to explore.
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| Yeah Boston! |
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| Nananananananana-BATHMAN! |
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| Lovely countryside on the way to Bath. |
Right, onto the Roman baths. The baths were famous for their healing properties and have been getting visitors from around Britain for hundreds of years. The main terrace that visitors first walk on to was completed in 1897. From there, visitors can look down into one of the baths (which is filled with contaminated water and some ducks). The terrace has statues of Roman emperors and governors of Britannia surrounding it. Some of the statues are of Julius Caesar, Vespasian, and Constantine the Great, among others.
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| Original layout of the baths. |
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| The resident ducks. |
Inside the museum there are relics from the Roman times such as gravestones, jewelry, and even the temple pediment which stood at the front of the Temple of Sulis Minerva. Back in its time, it looked down on visitors to the courtyard from 15 meters up and dominated the scene.
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| To the naked eye, the glowing light stuff is not really visible. I was rather bewildered when I first saw the photograph. |
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| Mosaic. |
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| Head of Sulis Minerva, I believe. |
I mentioned gravestones; one of the graves for viewing is that of Gaius Calpurnius Receptus, the priest in charge of the temple. His gravestone is in the shape of an altar, and is the only funerary monument from Roman Britain in which the occupation of the deceased is reflected by the monument's shape. This likely shows the pride Receptus' widow had in his work.
The baths were a fun visit, but I liked just walking around the city most of all. It is a beautiful place! There is a lot to see and do as well. It's definitely worth taking the trip! After all, it is the only city in Britain that is a World Heritage City.
Yesterday morning I joined my friend Lauren for a trip to Portobello Road, a famous market street in the Notting Hill district of London. It is known for its antiques (it is supposedly one of the largest antique markets in the UK), and Saturday mornings are the best times to go and see what the market has to offer. As we discovered, it seems more like a tourist destination than a place local Londoners go, but it is definitely worth seeing. There's even a fancy song about it thanks to Disney:
Our trip to Portobello Road wasn't quite that zany, but it came really darn close! (Though I admit, some dancing sailors would have been nice.) One of the first people we ran into on Portobello Road was....Charlie Chaplin! He was very funny and made for a great start to our morning. (We saw him on the way out as well and waved at each other.)
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| Lauren treated us to Nutella crepes. Mmm. |
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| There were several old book stalls. I looked through every single one. |
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| The street foods smelled so good. |
We ran into three bands playing on the road as well. The first one was the most entertaining in that the lead singer's microphone was a hairbrush and his guitar was Barbie or some similar brand. The other guitarist was using a Guitar Hero controller. They were playing (lip-synching) Get Off Of My Cloud. They gathered large crowds, much to the annoyance of drivers trying to get down the road that intersected Portobello at that particular spot.
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| We waited until the song was over and loudly cheered. |
Heading back to the station, I noticed a blue plaque on a building near the entrance to Portobello Road. I am glad I spotted it: The plaque marked George Orwell's house!
That wrapped up our day at the market. I made one purchase at an old book stall, and it was something I had been looking for: an old copy of some of John Milton's works. I managed to find one at the second stall we visited. It's a small book containing all of his poetical works, and was published in 1833. Mission: Accomplished.
I would like to go back to Portobello Road before I leave. There is always more to see...
The days in between these stories were spent in classes or in pubs. Now that my fellow international students and I have done most of the touristy stuff we intended to do, we find that going out to pubs is the best way to get together and socialize. Always fun, no big trips needed. Whenever we need something to do, we head to the nearest pub and call it a night.
The days in between these stories were spent in classes or in pubs. Now that my fellow international students and I have done most of the touristy stuff we intended to do, we find that going out to pubs is the best way to get together and socialize. Always fun, no big trips needed. Whenever we need something to do, we head to the nearest pub and call it a night.
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| Basically. |
That wraps this up. I think it's about time for me to work on actual homework. After all, this week is the final week of my undergraduate career (*heartattack*), so I should probably spend some time acting like a student. Until next time...Cheers!
