Trip Recap: Bath and Avebury

Trip Recap Posts:

I'm Back!!!

What I Brought

The Travel

Cat Art

The Food

Bath is a remarkable city; we took a train from London, which lasted less than 2 hours.  Bath is known for it's semi-circle buildings, of which the most famous is the Royal Crescent; architect Christopher Wren, who built many important UK buildings.  

The Circus, in Bath

Hot air ballooning is
a favorite pass time in Bath

We rented an apartment for the two days we were in Bath, with it's own garden and private entrance.  It had a full kitchen, a shower room, a full bathroom, and a lavatory just off the foyer.  All of the pleasures of home!

Our apartment, above the art gallery

This was our private garden

Of course, we made a tour of the Roman Bath, that has been carefully preserved.  The water is no longer healthy for humans, since bacteria has infiltrated the underground spring.  The Romans used the baths for business, pleasure, and felt it was necessary for healthy living.  The entire ancient complex is quite large, however much of it was built upon long ago.  

Ancient Roman Bath

Roman Statues

Notice how the walkway is suspended above
the old stones

On our last day in Bath, Sunday, one sister and niece attended a service at Bath Abbey, other sister and niece visited with friends (who recommended Bath as a destination and they were RIGHT!), so I nabbed a quick train to Swindon, then a short bus ride to Avebury Henge and Stone Circles.  Avebury is only upstaged by Stonehenge in the minds of the average person, but Avebury is accessible; you can touch the stones, walk the entire perimeter, and feel the power for the formations!  I took many photos, but you cannot grasp the size of the monoliths unless you are there.  I've included some images taken from an old travel brochure too, so you can get a sense of the scope.  Look, there is an entire village in the middle of it...that's one big, honking circle!

Avebury World Heritage Site

This grouping in the old guide...

...and my photo!
The couple standing in front give you a sense of size

Map of Avebury

Standing stone

From the guide

It was fantastic!

Many folks had tried to dissuade us from visiting Stonehenge, saying you only get to see the remaining stones (you know that many have disappeared or fallen over in the past thousand years?) from a walkway.  Seeing Stonehenge was important to me, being an archaeologist and historian, but wait...I can walk up and TOUCH the stones at Avebury?!?  'Nuff SAID!  And what a beautiful day I had; truly, one of the highlights of the entire trip for me.