Monday, October 6, 2014

Without Breath and Without Words

            Speechless and breathless. Those are the only words that can used to describe the state I was in for the majority of the weekend; the state that all the sights I had the pleasure to view rendered me into.
            This weekend, I went on two tours: one a boat tour down the River Thames to Greenwich and the other one to Bath and Stonehenge. Both tours were amazing and I saw so many places and artifacts that my mind is still reeling from the beauty of all of it.
Millennium Bridge
Tower Bridge
            Saturday was the boat tour and it was our first day of the typical London weather: gray skies and rain. Luckily for us, the boat that had a glass ceiling, allowing us to be protected from the elements and still take great pictures, although, I did venture outside a couple of times to get a better view, namely of the Tower Bridge and Millennium Bridge, known to me as the bridge from the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. This bridge was not the only movie location that we had the pleasure to see that day. In Greenwich, there is the Royal Naval Hospital/ Greenwich University, which has been the location for many scenes in film including: The Dark Knight Rises (café scene), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Skyfall, and my personal favorite Les Misérables
Royal Naval Hospital
. In Les Mis it was the location of the giant elephant and where they sing “Do You Hear the People Sing” both times, which led me and one my friends to break out into the song as we walked through the area. The area without its film history was magnificent but with it added, it was even more amazing.
            Also on the University campus is what our tour guide described to us as the most beautiful dining room that you will ever see and he was correct. The room, called the Painted Hall, is covered in murals of scenes depicting British royalty from the 1500s’, 1600s’, and 1700s’. The only word that I can think to describe it, granted it is a hyphenated one, is awe-inspiring. It was one of the most gorgeous places that I have ever had the pleasure to behold and while I was there, I did one of the things that I came to England to do: stand somewhere that people had stood for hundreds of years before me in awe and marvel. It was simply exquisite.
Painted Hall

            Once we left the dining room, we went over to the Naval Museum to look at some exhibits, including an item from the Titanic, and then we had the option to either go to the Royal Observatory from which all time is set, as it is the place of Greenwich Mean Time, or go to a market. I chose to go the observatory and with that, some other study abroad students and I set out for our trek up a hill to the destination. When we got there, it had cleared up, giving way to sunny skies, and we got a wonderful view of the city.
View from Observatory
We also got to go to the line that divides the eastern and western hemispheres and with one foot on each side of the line, I was able to be in two places at once.
Two places at once

            After we took in the views, we were able to go to the market before we went home and there I purchased a delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cupcake. Not wanting to rush and eat before I got on the tube (that day being the first that I had ever ridden any underground transportation) I ate it when I got back to my dorm, closing out the day in a tasty way.
            On Sunday, a group of us got up bright and early to go on a tour of Bath and Stonehenge. From our campus, the bus ride to Bath was two and half hours long, giving me the opportunity to view the English countryside and get some reading for a class done. The countryside reminded me a lot of Wisconsin, so for that reason, as we were driving, it felt like I was back home and going on a road trip with some friends, but that all changed when we got to Bath.
            Bath is a city that has been around for thousands of years and contains the country’s only hot spring, which was utilized by the Romans for many years. Although after the Romans left the city wasn’t as popular for many centuries, it regained its status in the 18th century when a group of men set to reinvigorate it and made it into something that is similar to a resort town with amazing architecture. The first stop we made on our tour was to the Royal Crescent. The Royal Crescent, like many of the buildings in bath, is made from sandstone and was designed John Wood, who worked with his father of the same name of the other buildings. It is a beautiful building, also like all those Bath.
The Royal Crescent



            Our next stop was the Circus, which is a series of buildings built in a circle around a roundabout.
The Circus
This had been one of the things that I most wanted to see when I came to the town and I definitely wasn’t disappointed in the sight. From there we walked through the streets, past the Jane Austen Centre, Queen’s Square, the Bath Abbey (more on that later), and to the Roman Baths. The Roman Baths are the actual place where the Romans thousands of years before enjoyed the hot springs and tried to heal themselves through them. This place was one of the most interesting places that we visited and I found it amazing that the baths were that well preserved for how many years that they had been around. While I did not touch or drink the water and get to enjoy its healing powers, I did buy a bottle of the waters as souvenir.
Roman Baths

            Following the Roman Baths, my friends and I walked through the town and after picking up some lunch, we found our way to the Pulteney Bridge. This bridge is astounding and was also the scene of a memorable Russell Crowe scene in Les Misérables.
Pulteney Bridge
The area around the bridge is a mixture of architecture and a park, which when we went in it was the most beautiful and well-kept park, aside from Hyde Park, that I had ever been in.
Park
I found myself saying that I would move to Bath because of how beautiful it was and because it was so peaceful. Also, as a lover of books and an aspiring writer, to be living in a place where Jane Austen walked and set her books in would simply be amazing. It was amazing just to walk where she did for a couple of hours.
            Our final stop was the most breathtaking.
Bath Abbey
The Bath Abbey was built in 15th century and is called the “Lantern of the West” due to its stained glass windows. While the windows are beautiful, it was the ceiling that really stopped me in my tracks and caused me to look up with my mouth agog.

The architecture of it was intricate and wondrous and I was in awe. As I write this, I still find my words unattainable when trying to describe it, so I will let the pictures attempt to do it justice instead.



            Once we were out of Bath, we began our drive to Stonehenge which was about an hour away. On the trip, our tour guide informed us of its history and told us that from what they can tell, Stonehenge was built around 3000 BCE by thousands of people (apparently, it wasn’t aliens) and was built for the purpose of healing and to worship the sun. People were brought there to be cured of disease but also to be sacrificed to the gods.  From our coach, we walked to an area where we waited in line to be taken on another bus to the site.
When I first saw it in the distance through the bus windows, the sense of marvel came over me and I as I walked around it, it stayed. The stones are huge and to think that people who had minimal tools compared to what we have today were able to carve and move these stones long distances is mind blowing. It was also incredible to be there because it was the oldest site that I had ever been to, as it has been around 5000 years and as I stood there, taking it all in, I had to wonder if the people who built it would have ever thought that it would be still standing, outlasting them by thousands of years, and that it would have drawn so much attention over that time; I don’t think they did, because I don’t think that anyone really anticipates that anything will last that long.


Between Stonehenge, Bath, and the Greenwich tour, the weekend was a tour of history that took me from ancient times to the present, making it the coolest mashup of past and present that I have partaken in to this day. This weekend here has been one of my favorites and I cannot wait to do more sightseeing in the future!