Some Rocks, Green Bath Water, and a Pub Crawl: Four days in England!

3/14/15
Day 1:
Finally, after many years of hoping and praying that I could get my husband to England, it finally happened.  We flew from Nuremberg, Germany to London's Stansted Airport and took a coach into London.  We made our way to my friend, Jayesh's flat and then went out for a drink.  It was my second time to Jam in a Jar but it was Jack's first experience.  Unfortunately the band was done playing for the night so it was pretty quiet and the uniqueness and charm came off a little trite.  Thankfully we had great company and we had a nice time and good conversation.

Jam in a Jar

Cool decor

 3/15/15
Day 2:

Day two started with us heading to Victoria Station for a very early tour to Stonehenge and Bath.  After going to England at least four times before, I really thought I would have gotten there sooner but I was so happy to have shared that experience with my Captain Jack!  It was a much colder day than we were expecting but we braved the elements and started our journey.  Along the way, we saw the Stonehenge Giant.  He was a huge metal statue, he is called "Ancestor" and was built to represent the ancestor's thanking the God's for the summer and winter solstice.  It was originally at the Stonehenge site in 2010 but has since been moved many times and is currently resting near Amesbury.

        Ancestor in summer.                  Ancestor when we were there.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks. It is in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.

While to some, Stonehenge might just be some ancient rocks, to me it was an opportunity to touch history and to understand that there are still some mysteries out there.  Archaeologists believe it was built anywhere from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first stones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, while another theory suggests that bluestones may have been raised at the site as early as 3000 BC.

My guy letting me indulge my inner shutter bug-ness

The heel stone

The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

Archaeological evidence indicates that Stonehenge could have been a burial ground. The dating of cremated remains found on the site indicate that deposits contain human bone from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug.

Recently, they have built a museum and a Neolithic village.  The museum had a very cool room that had you right in the middle of the stones and had a video that showed you the sun coming up and going down during solstice. 

Walking in to the Neolithic village

Kind of a neat set up

Close up on one of the huts

A common living hut

Close up on the thatch roof

When we had our fill of Stonehenge, we go back on our bus and started out for the City of Bath, England.  The city itself is spectacular and has Georgian buildings with buttery yellow stones.  It was a place of rest and relaxation for Roman soldiers and later, for wealthy people.

I loved the Georgian architecture

Bath has lovely shops too

The Sally Lunn Bunn Shop

There were also some pretty cool bits of information such as the Pulteney Bridge, which is one of only five bridges in Europe that has shops and restaurants in it.

Pulteney Bridge

Pulteney Bridge

We got a chance to go eat before we entered the Roman baths.  We walked around a bit and settled for a nice place called The Crystal Palace.  It had some of the best food I've had in England.  It was a bit expensive but oh, so worth it!

The Crystal Palace

The quaint factor can't be beat!

It feels like someones home

Everywhere was cute and inviting

This is the area we ate in

My guy giving me a sheepish grin

I just loved this place

After a nice filling meal, we went back to the baths and met up with our group.  The Roman Bath's were right next to Bath Abbey as well, so we were surrounded by amazing sights.  Once we went in, we were given audio guides and were let loose!  

Bath Abbey

Angels climbing up the side of Bath Abbey

The Roman Baths

The Pump Room Restaurant

Everyone getting ready to go in

The inside of the building was really beautiful and it has a pretty spectacular restaurant in it called the Pump Room.

The ceiling of the Roman Bath entrance

The Pump Room Restaurant

We walked to the bath's by walking outside on a balcony that surrounds one of the baths.  The green water looked very calming but due to health concerns, people are not allowed to even put their hands or feet in the water.

The outside balcony

Statues around the balcony

Close up on one of the statues

One of the roman baths from the balcony above

Bath Abbey from the balcony

Looking over to the Pump Room from the inside of the building, overlooking a bath

Archaeological evidence shows that the site of the Roman baths' main spring was treated as a shrine by the Britons, and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis, whom the Romans identified with Minerva; the name Sulis continued to be used after the Roman invasion, appearing in the town's Roman name, Aquae Sulis (literally, "the waters of Sulis"). Messages to her scratched onto metal, known as curse tablets, have been recovered from the sacred spring by archaeologists. The tablets were written in Latin, and cursed people by whom the writers felt they had been wronged. For example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the baths, he might write a curse, naming the suspects, on a tablet to be read by the goddess.

The Romans believed that Sulis was a manifestation of the Roman goddess Minerva (Athena in Greek mythology), goddess of wisdom. Bath’s Temple of Sulis Minerva was built for the goddess over the sacred water. In 1790, archaelogists found 14 pieces of carved stone from the front area of the temple. One of the carvings was a Gorgon’s head (a symbol of Minerva) that faced the courtyard and altar.

This used to have a floor on top of the stones, they had heated flooring!

Head of Minerva

A temple was constructed in 60–70 AD and a bathing complex was built up over the next 300 years.  Engineers drove oak piles into the mud to provide a stable foundation, and surrounded the spring with an irregular stone chamber lined with lead. In the 2nd century, the spring was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted structure, that housed the calidarium (hot bath), tepidarium (warm bath), and figidarium (cold bath). The city was later given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century.  After the failure of Roman authority in the first decade of the 5th century, the baths fell into disrepair and were eventually lost as a result of silting.

Diagram showing the different baths and where they were located

How the courtyard and baths were once

Just look at how well preserved this floor is!

In March 2012 a hoard of 30,000 silver Roman coins, one of the largest discovered in Britain, was unearthed in an archaeological dig. The coins, believed to date from the 3rd century, were found about 450 feet from the Roman baths. 

One of the baths that has coins in it

There were several areas where the water was still coming in.  You can see by the yellow/gold color that there are lots of minerals and such in the water.

One of the water falls that supplied the water to the baths

Finally, we made it to the great bath outside.  It was pretty wondrous to think we were walking where so many people had come to relax and enjoy the natural springs.

We had just enough time while we waited for our bus to have a pint!  :)   There is always time for beer!

The Captain giving me a wee squint

Me and my guy!

We met up with our bus and went back to London.  We passed Salisbury Hill and got a chance to see the city of Bath from a distance.  It was very beautiful.

It was a pretty amazing day and we were so very happy to have had this opportunity.

3/16/15
Day 3:
So our third day started with the very best of intentions.  We were going to have a nice breakfast and then go to a museum or two...the road to hell and all that... :)  We started our day by having a proper full English breakfast with beans, bacon, sausages, black pudding, and a fried slice (fried toast).  Cafe Lemon is one of my very favorite places in London for breakfast.  I am usually so full by the end, I can go until dinner before needing more sustenance.  Jack of course started his day with a breakfast beer...because when you are on vacation, why not!

Cafe Lemon

I love their happy yellow decor

The Captain paying for our meal

When we went to Bloomsbury area to get Jayesh's new eye glass lenses, we passed a cute paint shop (that reminded us of our artistic daughter, Kiylei) and then went and grabbed a pint while we waited for him.

L Cornelissen & Son

Our Kiylei would be fascinated by all these colors!

Pub #1: Jack Horner's

Jack Horner's

We waited for Jay to be done with gathering his eye glasses and then had a pint at Jack Horner's with him.  This pub was a little more expensive than we usually go for but it was close and kind of cool with it's old pub style.

We then thought we should go get a little bit of culture at the British Museum...before we headed to another pub.  I had been to the British Museum many times before as you can see in my London post from 2005, but Jack hadn't been, so it was all new to him.  The library was closed unfortunately so we had to move on...to another pub of course...

A wooden Asian statue thousands of years old

The mummy exhibit was pretty spectacular

Amazing what they could do with marble

Love this...

Just look at that ceiling!

Jack & Jayesh outside the British Museum

Pub #2: The Plough
So on our way to the next pub, we saw the most amazing store.  Talk about dapper!  I told Jack if he dressed like that, I would surely want to be seen with him more often.  He said if he was ever going to wear a suit, these would be the ones he would wear.

Thomas Farthings

Decor at the store...old timey boxing gloves!

Makes me want to kiss a Brit on the mouth!

Sooooo dapper

We also walked past the Camden Round House.  It was once a train platform that could turn around but is now where bands come to play.  Our son, Keenan, would LOVE this place.

After a short walk, we went to The Plough.  It was another pretty cool place that had great smelling food but we weren't quite hungry just yet, so we just had a pint and moved on.

The Plough

Very typical pub decor

When we left, we continued walking for awhile and then ended up at the Enterprise.

Pub #3: The Enterprise

The Enterprise

Typical pub decor

Modest Mouse Poster in the background

Cheers from Jack & Jay

When we were done with The Enterprise, we started feeling a bit hungry and thought we might need to find some food.

Pub #4: The Garden Gate

The Garden Gate

Looked a little like a Cap Code type place

More food oriented than pub oriented

Good conversation in this warm, cozy place

Realizing this place had pretentious food but great beer

The Garden Gate ended up having pretentious food at higher prices than we were wanting to spend so we headed off.

Pub #4:

The Stapleton Tavern

Good beer on tap

Jack & Jay

We really needed to use a bathroom before dinner though so of course we had to stop again at the next pub...not to eat...apparently to drink though!

Pub #5: Cats Thai Restaurant

We weren't sure if they, in fact, served cats

Yikes on the cheetah print but Yay on the food!

Finally we ate.  Once we fed our selves, we started off for the next best thing.  Beer!

Pub #6: The World's End

The World's End

Apparently this had been a run down place at one time but is now pretty nice

The Captain enjoying a pint

After a pint at The World's End, we still weren't ready to call it a night so what could possibly come next?  Yep!  The next pub! *Disclaimer* We do NOT in our daily life, go from pub to pub drinking our weight in beer! ;)

Pub #7: The Salisbury

The Salisbury

This was once a hotel/ballroom/pub.  Now just a pub with two bars in it

I loved the details in this place

Just look at those ceilings!

The guys deep in conversation...probably about beer

They were having a quiz night so things were beginning to get very loud, so after one pint we decided to move on to...

Pub #8: The Bun & Bar

The Bun & Bar

We LOVED the ceilings

Pretty cool little burger/beer place

Yes, those are crates on the ceiling

Last cheers of the night!

Finally we were ready to go back to the flat and sleep all those beers off and be ready to go home the next day.

3/17/15

Day 4:

Of course, day four was full of traveling back to Germany.  While the flight is only and hour and a half, there is still an hour bus ride to Stansted and then an hour drive back from Nuremberg to our place.  Jack likes to refer to our travels as "Planes, trains, and automobiles".  This was a really great four day and of course, I can't wait to go back to see our friend, Jay and my lovely London!