London, second visit

[J. A.]

We did that trip w/ our son on my second visit (included Scotland + London) - yes, it is al ALL day trip but some wonderful sites to see and plenty of interesting history - the Roman baths were pretty amazing for the engineering of the times.

As I recall, we also went to the Salisbury Cathedral - unique in the uniformity of the architecture - built really FAST for the times - quote below from a Wiki article - enjoy and looking forward to your pics. Dave


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I don't remember reading about Salisbury Cathedral when I saw the tour. We'll see...

 

[J. A.]

We visited Stonehenge and Bath, nothing else.

 

[J. A.]

Today's tour went to Stonehenge and Bath.
We were picked up from the hotel and brought to Victoria Station, where the journey started.
Our guide was Sheila, a nice lady with white hair, a red coat (to make sure we don't miss her) and a Scottish accent.
Our driver's name was James.

On our way through London, Sheila showed us a few buildings, one of them was the "Famous Three Kings".The reason why I mention this pub, are the kings that are meant: Henry VIII., Charles I. and Elvis. All three of them are visible on the shield outside the pub:

Flickr

We needed two hours to get to Stonehenge.
The coach wasn't allowed to drive to the location directly. We left near the new visitor center:

There's also an exhibition. We didn't have time enough to take a look at it - 90 minutes to get to Stonehenge, take pictures and get back to the bus.
A shuttle brought us to Stonehenge

A little bit of information about the location:
Stonehenge was built between 3000 and 2200 BC, in three periods:
The first phase started roughly around 3000 BC. The Heel Stone was surrected

and more than 30 holes were dug.

Phase 2 happened around 2500, and ended when stones were ordered in two circles. These stones came from Wales, about 200 miles away, and were transported to Stonehenge via river or prehistoric sledges. Hundreds of men were necessary to get this done. The people that built Stonehenge, were hunters and gatherers, with a life expectance of 30 to 35 years, and the wheel was not yet invented, so building this site was quite a challenge.

Stonehenge was completed around 2200 BC. The stones from that period came from Marlborough, 20 miles away, and were taller than the ones from Wales.

Stonehenge supposedly was a prehistoric observatory - to watch sun, moon and stars.

Although the day was windy, cloudy and not really warm, many other people also considered it a good idea to visit the location.

You walk around the stones, it's not allowed to touch them. Here's Stonehenge from various angles:

 

[scifan57]

Those are some very good shots of Stonehenge, Johanna. You got some great views. Were you allowed to enter the stone circle?

 

[J. A.]

Those are some very good shots of Stonehenge, Johanna. You got some great views. Were you allowed to enter the stone circle?

Thank you, Robert.

It's not possible to enter the circle. The stones are fenced in. The closest point where you're allowed to walk, is still a few meters away from them.

There's a walkway between the Heel Stone and the rest of the location, but it's not possible to go to the main part of the site.

 

[J. A.]

On our way to Bath, we saw two remarkable locations:
The George Inn, possibly England's oldest pub:

Wikipedia

And a white horse on a hill:

Wikipedia
The Westbury White Horse: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westbury_White_Horse

 

[scifan57]

On our way to Bath, we saw two remarkable locations:
The George Inn, possibly England's oldest pub:
View attachment 63790
Wikipedia

And a white horse on a hill:
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Wikipedia
The Westbury White Horse: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westbury_White_Horse

I've heard about the white horse carved into the chalk hillside but I hadn't heard about the pub. Having you post these photos is the next best thing to being there.

 

[giradman]

Hi again Johanna - thanks for the additional pics, especially of Stonehenge - looks about the same to me -

The horse in the hill reminded me of a similar scene @ Stone Mountain near Atlanta, Georgia - I'll post in the picture sharing thread so as not to hijack your posts, pics, and comments! Dave

 

[J. A.]

Hi again Johanna - thanks for the additional pics, especially of Stonehenge - looks about the same to me -

The horse in the hill reminded me of a similar scene @ Stone Mountain near Atlanta, Georgia - I'll post in the picture sharing thread so as not to hijack your posts, pics, and comments! Dave

Stonehenge is certainly the same since you were there. (Alhough our guide told us the "truth" after visiting the site: it was built a few years ago, to attract tourists. )

The visitor center and the exhibition opened in 2013, so there's a slight chance you didn't see them before.

 

[J. A.]

At first, Bath was a Roman city. When the Romans found hot springs in that area (the only ones in the whole UK, up to the present), they built amphitheatres and baths. None of the Roman buildings exist any more.

During the Georgian period (around 1700), the town was rebuilt, and for some time it was the most important city in the world. The architecture style that was used to built Bath, is called Neo-Classical. The local stone, the limestone, was used for the buildings.

The first attraction that drew our attention was the Pulteney Bridge. The weir below was used for Javert's suicide in the film "Les Misérables".

It was possible to visit the "Roman baths" in Bath (we didn't do that - time was limited), or take a walk around the town. That's what we did. We found Bath's oldest building:

And visited the church.

This is the door in the middle from outside.
Inside the church:

Bath Abbey from outside:

As visible, it was very crowded.
A panoramic view of a small part of Bath:

This is visible outside the Roman Bath:

 

[The OB]

A great collection of photos of your tour Johanna. Enjoyable to follow your trip with your clear and interesting descriptions. I'm somewhat surprised that the tour, incorporating the Roman Baths, in the city they call Bath, did not actually allow time to see the baths themselves, if I read you correctly.
Your Stonehenge pics were excellent! Thanks for sharing!
Andrew


Sent from my iPad Air2 using Tapatalk

 

[scifan57]

At first, Bath was a Roman city. When the Romans found hot springs in that area (the only ones in the whole UK, up to the present), they built amphitheatres and baths. None of the Roman buildings exist any more.

During the Georgian period (around 1700), the town was rebuilt, and for some time it was the most important city in the world. The architecture style that was used to built Bath, is called Neo-Classical. The local stone, the limestone, was used for the buildings.

The first attraction that drew our attention was the Pulteney Bridge. The weir below was used for Javert's suicide in the film "Les Misérables".
View attachment 63798

It was possible to visit the "Roman baths" in Bath (we didn't do that - time was limited), or take a walk around the town. That's what we did. We found Bath's oldest building:
View attachment 63799
And visited the church.
View attachment 63800
This is the door in the middle from outside.
Inside the church:
View attachment 63801
View attachment 63802
View attachment 63803
View attachment 63804
View attachment 63805
View attachment 63806
View attachment 63807
View attachment 63808
Bath Abbey from outside:
View attachment 63809
As visible, it was very crowded.
A panoramic view of a small part of Bath:
View attachment 63810

This is visible outside the Roman Bath:
View attachment 63811

Thanks for posting the photos if your tour of Bath, they were good, especially the ones of Bath Abbey. It's too bad the tour didn't allow enough time to see the town AND the baths, for which the town is named.

 

[J. A.]

A great collection of photos of your tour Johanna. Enjoyable to follow your trip with your clear and interesting descriptions. I'm somewhat surprised that the tour, incorporating the Roman Baths, in the city they call Bath, did not actually allow time to see the baths themselves, if I read you correctly.
Your Stonehenge pics were excellent! Thanks for sharing!
Andrew


Sent from my iPad Air2 using Tapatalk

Thank you, Andrew!

It was possible to visit the baths, but in that case we wouldn't have seen the town. That's one of the disadvantages when you don't go there yourself.

 

[J. A.]

Thanks for posting the photos if your tour of Bath, they were good, especially the ones of Bath Abbey. It's too bad the tour didn't allow enough time to see the town AND the baths, for which the town is named.

Thank you, Robert!
We had to consider what to do, so we decided against the baths, something I wouldn't have done if there had been enough time.

 

[J. A.]

An interesting detail from our hotel room. This is what we use for watching TV or browsing:

An iMac

To access iPF, I still use my iPad. It's easier to access the photos I took and post them here.