London to Stonehenge to Bath to London

It was time to take off from Liverpool and head to London.  I knew the way to the Liverpool Coach Station from the hotel because I had walked there a few days before.  In the morning, when I left, for some reason I wasn’t counting on the rain.  Also, I wasn’t counting on taking a wrong turn.  What should have been a fifteen-minute walk to the station turned out to be a thirty-five minute trek in the rain.  I still got there in plenty of time, though, and grabbed some breakfast before hopping on the bus.

The busses in Great Britain (I used National Express again) aren’t as comfortable as they are in Mexico, but they’re close.  They definitely top Greyhound in the U.S.  Anyway, the trip took about four-and-a-half hours, with a short stop in Milton Keynes, and dropped us off at the Victoria Coach Station.  From there, it was a short walk to the Victoria Station and then an eight-stop Underground ride to Paddington Station, close to where my hotel was located.

The weather was kind of crappy in London and I had a big day planned the next day so I didn’t do a whole lot that first evening.  I walked from Paddington down to Oxford Street and then over to Wigmore Court Hotel, where my travel adventures started way back in September 2009.  I grabbed some dinner and a drink or two and headed back for the night.

The next day was the third of the three things that I looked most forward to seeing on this trip – Stonehenge.  I was picked up at my hotel at 7:15 am and taken to Victoria Coach Station in order to catch a bus out to the ruins.  It took about ninety minutes and we arrived shortly before 11:00 am.  Entering the site, the first thing that I noticed is that the ruins are a little underwhelming.  It was a similar feeling that I had when I arrived at the pyramids.  I was just looking at a bunch of stones that always looked much bigger on television than they did in person.  The entrance fee included an audio guide that talks about the history of the site, but most of the history lesson involved the fact that nobody really knows all that much about the site.  It wasn’t built by the Druids.  They know that.  They don’t know a hell of a lot more.  My guess – aliens.

 The area surrounding Stonehenge, on the other hand, was truly beautiful.  Lots of green and hills and sheep.  It looked like a place that would make a marvelous park if it weren’t for that annoying collection of rocks in the middle of it.  It was easy to see why the area could inspire so many writers and poets.  I could have stayed there on one of the benches and hung out for a while (the weather was improving although it was a little cool), but it was time to go to Bath.

We got on the bus after about 45 minutes at Stonehenge and went to Bath.  Bath is famous for its architecture and the beauty of the surrounding area and, of course, the famous Roman baths that are located therein.  When we first arrived, I was hungry, so I skipped past the Roman baths at first and headed to a pub for some lunch.  I had cottage pie, which was great but was served with french fries on the side.  Since cottage pie is mostly mashed potatoes, it seemed like an odd combination, but I went with it.  The beer was good.

After walking around town for a little bit, I finally made my way over to the Roman baths.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it was pretty interesting.  I went from room-to-room looking at the remnants of the Roman architecture that remained.  I saw the various baths and learned about how the Romans started out in the hot baths and worked their way into baths of decreasing warmth until they finished in a cold bath.  I suppose it was worth the price of admission but Roman history is only of passing interest to me.

Afterwards, we got back on the bus to head back to London on a trip that ended up taking nearly four hours because of an accident on the M4 and bad traffic, generally.  Once back, it was time to meet up with my English Friend from my Central America trip.  I’ll get to that next time.