As the Wind Blows

The original plan was to see the sunrise over Stonehenge on summer solstice. This is only time of year where the public can go up to the stones and the um, people who are passionate about preserving the pagan history surrounding the stones come out of the woodworks. However it was not meant to be. One, because I had been too lazy to organise the bus, the accommodation and plan the whole outing, and two, even if I hadn’t been lazy, it was raining at sunrise on summer solstice so we would have never seen the sun rising anyway. Instead, we ended up doing a day tour to Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor so when we did end up visiting Stonehenge, the sun was out and it was a beautiful time of day to view one the wonders of the world.

The day started off by paying a visit to the Queen, or at least (one of) her summer residence(s). The oldest part of the castle was built by the Romans around the time of William the Conqueror and other monarchs have built it up to what it is today. After visiting the Tower of London and Hampton Court, I’ve begun to notice similarities between the royal residences, both in the stone used to build the castles and also the interior design. King Henry VIII spent a lot of money building/improving and decorating castles. The state apartments were very decadent and impressive and I want to be invited to a state event just so I can get a closer look at everything that was cordoned off. The doll house is also worth a visit with amazing detail of the rooms (I think of Buckingham Palace) and a few of the books actually have the stories in miniature. What I liked the most was the display of Prince Phillips life in honour of his 90th birthday. It was great seeing photos of the Royal family that make them look just like every other family.

Bath is such a beautiful little town and I was sad not to be able to have spent more time there. There was only enough time to go through the main attraction – the Roman Baths, and then hop back on the bus. Tours can be so limiting sometimes. The Baths themselves were quite impressive, especially the hot springs component that made me want to visit New Zealand, and the sheer size of the baths and how the Romans managed to engineer the springs into the baths would have been mind blowing at the time. Next time I’m in Bath I’ll have to do a Jane Austen tour :)

The audio guide at Stonehenge kept going on about how mysterious the stones were, but I have to disagree. There are a lot of crows and graveyard mounds to increase the atmosphere of the place but it was such a beautiful day that I couldn’t see anything mysterious about the stones. Again, I was just impressed by the engineering ability of whoever put the structure together and the fact that it’s still standing. Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge were all built to last a very long time however if it wasn’t for the people who monitor these sites and restore them whenever necessary, I doubt future visitors would be able to experience history in such a tangible form.