So long Salisbury, hello London!

Before hopping on the train to London, Katie and I wanted to check out the Salisbury Abbey. We had seen the outside lit up at night but the abbey was closed by the time we got there. We both were glad that we did. We both agreed it was one of the most beautiful and interesting churches that we have seen. It's hard to tell in the photos but the whole church was in different shades of brown and cream-completely breathtaking.

View down the hall of the abbey.

The baptismal fount reflecting some stained glass windows.

The oldest working clock in the world.

Here is a beautiful nativity scene. It was very stunning in the middle of the great hall of the abbey.
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Bring on London!!! We headed to meet up with my cousin Christin and her husband, Matt and family, who live right outside of London. (Thanks again for hosting us!) We then went into London to celebrate New Years.

Katie and the London Eye-a huge ferris wheel used as a look-out point for viewing the city, similar to the ferris wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago.

Us.

Test run for the count down to New Years, projected onto a huge building.

First view of Big Ben and House of Parliment.

To get out of the cold (see a trend on this vacation? It was cold!), we found an English pub along the Queen's Walk/Thames River and got drinks/dinner/hung out for about 4 or 5 hours until the big moment.

Next on the list to try: Steak and Ale Pie. Our last meal of 2008.

The stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge

Katie and I were pumped for today. We were about to explore two great mysteries that still cannot be explained today: the stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge. Everyone has heard of Stonehenge but many don't know about it's brother in Avesbury which is older and encompasses a larger area. Feeling adventurous, Katie and I passed on the expensive organized tour that would only take you to Stonehenge and Old Sarum, an old Iron Age Hill Fort used by the Romans and Normans. Instead, we bought a regional bus pass for the day, determined to see both circles on our own, and headed North to Avebury.

The stones were massive. Truly impressive to try to imagine how they moved them.

Another view of the same rock.

Kind of odd that one of them had a heart shape design in it.

This is the same rock with the heart shape design in it. Katie next to it to give you some perspective on its size.

This picture does not do this tree and its roots justice. It was so cool looking, straight out of a fairy tale or something made up. Must have held some meaning to people as many had tied different color ribbons to the branches.

An inn and tavern in Avebury. Notice the straw thatched roof.

At the bus stop, Katie was laughing really hard at this so I had to snap a pic. Dragon Inn "fish & chips and Chinese take away." Nothing goes with fish & chips like a little General Tso's.

We decide to warm up once we got to Amesbury (the closest town to Stonehenge) and have our first English pub food experience.

Check out the first course under "Mains," uhhhhhh...Katie and I never tried them but we found out that Faggots are essentially meatballs made of off-cuts of meat, usually pork.

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After lunch, we hopped in a taxi for a short ride out to Stonehenge. Katie and I opted not to pay the entrance fee for a three reasons 1) you can't actually go up to the stones any longer. 2) the trail that you are allowed to walk on is seriously about a foot away from where you stand outside the fence 3) the view is almost the same.

Stonehenge

You're Welcome!

After taking in the Stonehenge, we decided to walk back to Amesbury to catch the bus back to Salisbury. That night, we relaxed back at the hostel after a long day in the cold. We had created a list of foods that we wanted to try, one on the list was clotted cream (basically a very thick cream). Our hostel had clotted cream ice cream so we decided to give it a whirl. How do you make clotted cream taste even better (and worse for you)?? Yep, make it into an ice cream.

(yup, it's just a little guy) :) Before...

...during...

...after. Oh yeah, it's good, it's really good!

Salisbury

After arriving in Salisbury via train, we walked in the bitter, and I mean, bitter cold toward the town center (or in England, it's centre). Along the way, we decided to warm up with a Cappuccino and relax by reading some of our books.

A cool looking pavillion in the downtown.

The Salisbury church at night.

Walking back to our hostel after a night on the town, we took a moment and stopped on a bridge to take in the quaint English town on a small river with the white swans to keep us company.

England is known to have some tasty brews; here were two. I guess that the requirements to name a beer here include: 1) the name must have "old" or "ole" in it. 2) then some random thing or name after it that make no sense but for some reason you like, for example "Old Speckled Hen"

More Bath

The city provides a free guided tours so we got up early on Sunday, attended a church service at the abbey, then joined a free tour.

I loved the look of vines on this building.

Crescent shaped building, Bath has many Roman influences from the columns to the shapes of the buildings and more.

We got to taste the water that flows up from the hotsprings. Reminds me of warm well-water, lots of minerals on the tongue.

No trip to Bath is complete without hearing, seeing, or buying something about Jane Austin. We stopped by the Jane Austen museum and I got to know Jane a little better.

Katie demonstrating the "blue steel" pose in front of the fashion museum, our next stop.

In high school, I really got into the Clash and am still a fan. I was excited to see that the museum had an exhibit of rock and roll fashion photographs including the Clash, Bowie and more.

Katie's words when she saw this "ohh, Rachelle would love this dress." Let us know if she was right Rachelle??

Yeah, apparently these were for the kids to try on.

Seriously? I guess Sir Mix-a-Lot would approve.

Jane Austen style clothes.

Nothing like sitting on a beach and catching some rays...well, not if your wearing this suit. I'm sure it was nice and cool to wear on those hot summer days.

Ahhhhh...after freezing in the bitter cold all day, Katie and I headed to the Thermae Bath Spa to relax and warm up. We had a coupon for 4 hours for the price of 2 hours. Score! The Spa has three levels of total bliss. The first is a large swimming pool, the second is scented mist rooms with foot baths and the third is the roof pool with a view of the city skyline. All the water for the Spa comes from the same source as the Ancient Roman Baths. What a perfect way to end our stay in Bath.

Time for a Bath, the city that is.

The next morning with our couchsurfing host before we hopped on our bus. Next stop, Bath.


I didn't have to wait too long to get fish and chips. Once we got to Bath, we stopped at a restaurant next to the abbey and dug right in.

The Bath abbey.

The facade of the abbey.

After checking into our hostel, we headed to the ancient Roman Bath. The Romans created this bath house after discovering the natural hotspring mineral waters that flowed up from the ground. They attributed the hot waters and healing powers to their god, Minerva.

A picture of the pedament from the original temple.

The sacred spring. There were actually several baths, here. The Romans created several baths with varying temperatures. The privileged ones of the day would come once or twice a day, undress, put on their heavy-duty sandals so as not to burn their feet on the heated floors, hit up the sauna, then the ever-increasing temperatured baths, and then finish off in a refreshingly cold bath. After, their slave would give them an intense exfoliation treatment by a scraping knife over their skin along with a rub down of perfumed oils.

The stone afro

Katie in front of the great bath. It was cold. Too bad we couldn't hop in!

The great Roman bath with the abbey in the background. This was street level in Roman times. Now, modern street level is more than 10 feet higher!