Okay, guys, this one is going to be a little shorter this time - sorry for the book I posted last time! It's just so interesting, I want to share it all!
Well, guess what I'm going to tell you about today? The whole group went to see Stonehenge, and then we went to the city of Bath. Here's a bunch of pictures from Stonehenge, followed by a little information about it.
We had a BLC lecture last night from a history professor at a local college in London. He spoke about the palaeolithic, mesolithic, and neolithic time periods of London, including pictures of artifacts he claims support these time frames (some were up to 700,000 years old), and the Bronze Age. It was interesting to listen to him talk and to see the pictures. I do not believe that we can accurately date anything to that old of an age, but if I had no opinion on it, I would be very easily swayed by the "facts" he was giving. Anyway, he talked mostly about Stonehenge, which was really neat to hear about considering we were going to visit it the very next day!
Stone
henge, from his best guess, was created by people of the Bronze Age (dating 2400 B.C. to 800 B.C.) to predict the lunar eclipse. Why they would want to do this is unknown, maybe prestige or "psychic powers" but regardless, it was an effort that took probably a long time. The ring of inner stones that are quite a lot smaller than the outside ring, but are still a few tons each. They have recently determined that those inner circle stones came from the Preseli Mountains in Wales, nearly 240 miles away! They determined this because the stones like them have only been found on that mountain and are blue on the inside. The makers of this monument took great care in putting it up too, because if you look closely at the top of one of the large stones that doesn't have anything on top of it, you can see a knob-looking projection. This knob fits into a notch on the matching stone that is supposed to sit on top of it.
henge, from his best guess, was created by people of the Bronze Age (dating 2400 B.C. to 800 B.C.) to predict the lunar eclipse. Why they would want to do this is unknown, maybe prestige or "psychic powers" but regardless, it was an effort that took probably a long time. The ring of inner stones that are quite a lot smaller than the outside ring, but are still a few tons each. They have recently determined that those inner circle stones came from the Preseli Mountains in Wales, nearly 240 miles away! They determined this because the stones like them have only been found on that mountain and are blue on the inside. The makers of this monument took great care in putting it up too, because if you look closely at the top of one of the large stones that doesn't have anything on top of it, you can see a knob-looking projection. This knob fits into a notch on the matching stone that is supposed to sit on top of it.We were there for maybe 45 minutes when we left and drove an hour to the city of Bath. It was located on 7 hills, and the houses went up and down the streets, very close together. We drove immediately to the Roman Baths, where we went on a self-guided tour of the baths. There were rooms where the Romans would change, rooms like saunas where the floor was heated by the hot springs that ran through the city. The Romans built this huge spa-type place aro
und the hot spring
s and directed the water where they wanted it to go so they could have all these rooms. There was a cold pool place too where they could cool off after being in the sauna. Then there was the huge hot springs bath, which we were able to walk right up to. We were warned over and over not to touch or drink the water because it was heavily mineral-laden, untreated, and has been positively tested for radioactivity. This didn't stop some people! The big bath was surrounded by statues, I think of Romans, you can see in this picture.
und the hot spring
s and directed the water where they wanted it to go so they could have all these rooms. There was a cold pool place too where they could cool off after being in the sauna. Then there was the huge hot springs bath, which we were able to walk right up to. We were warned over and over not to touch or drink the water because it was heavily mineral-laden, untreated, and has been positively tested for radioactivity. This didn't stop some people! The big bath was surrounded by statues, I think of Romans, you can see in this picture.The whole tour took not as long as I could ha
ve made it take, but I took longer than some of the other students! I like to take notes at these places so I can remember it better, and I like to soak it all in with as many mediums as possible. So I took my time.
ve made it take, but I took longer than some of the other students! I like to take notes at these places so I can remember it better, and I like to soak it all in with as many mediums as possible. So I took my time.I met up with a few girls afterwards and we had lunch together, then walked around the city of Bath. Laura and I went to the Jane Austen center, where she practically drooled over everything in there! She's a big Jane Austen fan, in her 7th heaven in that store! We walked around and shared a "Bath Bun," a sweet roll specific to Bath that was delicious! (I picked off my raisins!)
That's all for now...I'll blog more later. Post some comments! What did you think of Bath? Have any questions?
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