Today my British Culture and Society class went to Stonehenge and Bath.  We started at Stonehenge.  The stones, which weigh nearly 40 tons were dragged up to over 100 miles to be placed at the site, and as most people know nobody knows exactly why and how they were erected.  The stones were a lot bigger than I thought based on pictures I had seen, etc.  They are roughly 20 feet tall, but are in 8 foot holes in the ground to help keep them standing.  There isn't much more to say... we didn't get an official tour we just walked around and looked at the site.  It is really big, as you can see from some of the pictures.

The thing I was really excited for was our trip to Bath.  Bath was originally discovered by the ancient Romans, who made a city here with Roman Baths, hence the name.  The Romans settled on the site for their baths because there are natural hot springs where water that is approximately 46 degrees Celsius comes out of the ground.  The Roman spas existed on the site for quite some time until they left Britain hundreds of years before the first century AD.

Later, the British discovered the site, and it had the same appeal that it had to the Romans.  Legend says that a British aristocrat came upon the site after being banished from the court with leprosy.  It was said that he bathed in the hot spring, was cured, and went back to court to tell them of the "curing" waters.  Soon after, a city was built, and it became the vacation spot for the wealthy aristocrats of England who came to bathe in the water and drink "the cure".  In the movie The Duchess, Georgina Spencer comes to Bath to try to help her bear a male heir, which was common in those days.  Also, scenes from the movie were shot here. 

 

This is a famous bridge in the center of Bath.  The only other like it is in Florence Italy.

This is the famous Royal Crescent.  These are the "apartments" (but had 15-20 rooms each complete with servant quarters) that all of the wealthiest aristocrats stayed in when they were in Bath.  The city is like an ancient version of the Hamptons.  Today, one of these apartments would cost about 5 million pounds, or 8 millions dollars. 

Again, the Royal Crescent.  Shots similar to this one can be seen in The Duchess and other movies about 18th Century England.  
This is the Royal Theatre in Bath, which was the first theatre to be commissioned by the king outside of London.   
The remains of the ancient Roman Bath.

At the end of the tour we got to have our own glass of the Bath water, the same water that the English drank in the 18th century.

Me drinking my "cure".

The trip to Bath was the best trip that I've been on so far.  It was really fascinating to be on the site where so many famous people from English history had been, including King Henry VIII, Georgina Spencer Duchess of Devonshire, and Jane Austen.