Stonehenge & Bath

England is far more than just London, and the all-day bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath was a perfect escape from the crowded, urban scene. Both are located westerly in the English countryside. Our bus guide, Paul, was a seventy-something Irishman with two jobs (as a guide and working at Harrods) and a quick wit to boot, never ceased heckling our bus driver, Malcolm, or charming his audience. He was full of knowledge and contextual trivia, and he seemed to recall an age of the authentic tour "guides," who really guided the traveler. Nowadays, bus tours jam-pack as many sites as possible within a day, but we were able to spend a good portion at each site in leisure.

Stonehenge is a marvel mainly due to its mystery. Its preshistoric culture is lost to us, and it began formation around 3,000 B.C. until 1,600 B.C. It is aligned with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, and it's exact purpose? Unknown. Of course, it's considered a place of inspiration and worship, as well as other notions for its purpose (alien landing, assembled by giants, work of the devil, the druids' return, etc.).

I had minimal expectations of Stonehenge as I was told by mere appearance it's unimpressive, so of course I was impressed. Having little to no expectations sometimes work wonders when you travel, or perhaps in general. 

That would be a sprinkler next a 5,000 year old monument.

It's like the dark clouds are looming toward Stonehenge.

We headed to Bath just in time for lunch and a good three hours of wanderlust and respite, just like in a Jane Austen novel. Two of Jane Austen's works: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were largely set in Bath, and Jane also was a resident for five years. When you turn around the bend, and suddenly see a little mini-city of honey-colored terrraced homes nestled in green hills amid the English fog -- it's exactly what I imagined! I see why the Brits would head there for health; Bath has a charm and feeling of "lightness of being" difficult to describe.


We had lunch at the famous Sally Lunn's, the oldest house in the city, and where people (such as the likes of Charles Dickens) have had their tea since the 1600s. The house was built in 1482.

This is a freshly baked (and tart) apple pie with clotted cream, also known as devonshire cream, also known as heaven.

There are Roman Baths, Georgian Baths... 

Outside the Jane Austen Centre

 Sheep delighting in the English countryside...

It was refreshing to spend a day in  another part of historic, bucolic England -- the England of Austen, Keats and Coleridge. Stonehenge was impressive, Bath enchanting. And the writer in me felt a little bit of home while sipping a Sally Lunn tea near the ghost of Dickens' past...