Today was UNREAL. I went on a tour of England and I had the opportunity to see Stonehenge, Bath, Cotswolds, and Stratford on Avon.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge was surreal to me. It’s just one of those things that you either “get it” or you don’t…and I got it. Stonehenge is actually about 5,000 years old, and that’s so easy to say right? But think about it. Jesus walked the Earth approximately 2,000 years ago, so 3,000 years before that, Stonehenge was built. Just take a moment and try to wrap your mind around it…crazy huh? But yeah, it’s just a bunch of huge boulders set up in a circle so why is it so amazing? There are tons of theories behind the origins, functions, and intentions of this ancient monument, but I choose to cling to one in particular. I, being the self-proclaimed astronomy nerd that I am, am quite keen on the theory that relates Stonehenge to the stars. It’s no secret that Stonehenge is one giant astronomical clock. The sunlight shines directly through one side of the monument on the Summer Solstice and does the same on the opposite side on the Winter Solstice. The entire structure keeps track of the suns elliptical path throughout the course of a year! How cool is that?! So I’m sure that the ancient astronomy nerds like me were the masterminds behind Stonehenge, but maybe I am a little biased. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed being able to walk around it and take some pictures. It’s one of those things that really blows my mind if I truly sit and think about it. The mystery behind it kind of makes me want to go into some kind of anthropological astronomy field.

Check out Stonehenge on Wikipedia here.

Bath & Stratford on Avon

Bath was pretty cool I guess. It was most certainly a beautiful city, and I really enjoyed walking around and taking pictures while listening to the street singers and guitar players. I saw the place where the Roman Baths used to be (hence why the city is called “Bath”…duh.), but I didn’t feel like wasting any of my money going to see them up close. Yeah, I’m kind of a cheapskate traveler…but I prefer the term “thrifty.” So yeah, I just walked around Bath for a few hours, grabbed some Burger King, and window shopped down the adorable cobblestone side streets. Everything about England is just so cute to me. Haha.

Stratford on Avon was historically interesting I suppose. I went to Shakespeare’s birthplace with my tour group, ate a few scones and drank a glass of champagne (I like to keep it classy sometimes.), and toured around Shakespeare’s house. Ok, so I’m not gonna lie…before we walked into the museum, I just so happened to hear another tour group in the street speaking Thai. Ohhh yes, Thailand is following me. Haha. So, maaaaybe I just rushed through the museum/house just so I could get back outside and talk to the Thai people. Seriously…that’s what I did. It felt good speaking all 10 phrases of Thai that I learned over the past year. The group was from Bangkok, and I cheesy smiled the whole time I talked to them. (sigh) Thailand will always have a special place in my heart. So yeah, I can’t really say much more about Shakespeare because I didn’t really pay attention to anything in that museum, but hey, I’ve been to Shakespeare’s house…haha.

Check out Stratford on Avon on Wikipedia here.

Cotswolds

The Cotswolds were beautiful. It’s an area that dates back to at least the Middle Ages where sheep are raised. “Cotwolds” actually means something like “a sheep pin in the hills” so I guess that’s a pretty accurate name for the area. My tour guide was telling us that several famous people have homes in the Cotswolds including Madonna…just in case you were interested in that useless piece of information. It might come up on Jeopardy someday.

Check out the Cotswolds on Wikipedia here.

So overall it was a pretty great day. I feel like Miss Independent, but it’s still kind of lonely. Check out my pictures here…

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*An opinionated - teacher . blogger . traveler . sports enthusiast