Day 44 – Bath, Stonehenge & Avesbury

We realized this week that today was our last day to drive somewhere outside London during the weekend. So we decided to head to Bath – about 1.5 hrs west of Richmond. True to its name, it has a bath – the Roman Baths. I did not realize this (or maybe I did a long time ago). The Romans actually occupied England during the Roman Empire. And they discovered some natural springs in the western part of England that they built a city and temple around. These Roman Baths were famous for their rejuvenating and healing powers. It was a bit crowded as a tour bus let out right before we arrived. There was a kid activity for the girls to solve as we walked through the various baths housed there. Unfortunately, we were unable to take a dip as the pools were no longer opened to the public.

After Bath, we drove to Stonehenge. Although Scott’s co-workers said that it really wasn’t that exciting, how could we come to London and not go to Stonehenge? So we walked around the big stones. The girls got some pictures. We actually saw a bunch of people doing silly poses – like pushing as if they were pushing the stones. The actual stones are roped off as tourists started defacing the stones and chipping off pieces as souvenirs. We learned that the word “henge” means trench and that a trench surrounded the stones and then the stones were put on top.

After we crossed that off the list, we went to Avesbury on the recommendation of the choir accompianist at church. Unlike Stonehenge, the stones are quite accessible. They actually go all around the “town.” So we walked around the 4 sections. And the henge was quite obvious here. So the girls went down into the trench because it was easier to walk. That was due to the fact that along with the stones, there were lots of sheep and goats who also liked the stones. So walking was very tricky as there was sheep doo-doo everywhere. You could definitely tell I am a city girl by the way I was hopping around the doo-doo. Most others were just walking straight ahead in flip flops no less and they didn’t seem to mind what they stepped on. When the girls went down into one of the trenches, Ainsley scraped a bush and was itching. Of course the bush she scraped was a stinging nettle. So she had bumps on her leg but luckily, they disappeared in 10 minutes. Scott knew the reaction as soon as he saw it because I started to get alarmed that it was an allergic reaction. We finished our exploring of the 4 sections with the stones and headed back to the car for our drive back to London.

We decided to go to a restaurant in Richmond on the way home. Scott had gone to one right along the water but on Saturday nights, it is no kids. So we walked a bit more and decided to head to Pizza Express. It is a chain, but the Pizza was really good. Hit the spot after a long day. Then it was back to the house and to bed.