Stonehenge and Bath

This past weekend, the OPUS Program sponsored a day-trip to Stonehenge and Bath.

We left early in the morning from Oxford and drove through the gorgeous English countryside to get to Stonehenge. A lot of mystery surrounds the stones. The first henge was built over five thousand years ago! In around 2600 BC, at about the same time as the first pyramids were being built in Egypt, the first structure was being built at Stonehenge. Now, only about half of the original monument remains. We can only speculate as to what its intended purposes actually were. Some say it was an ancient burial site - human remains have been found at the tops of the post holes, so the theory holds up. Others argue that it was an ancient calendar, because depending on the month of the year, the shadows fall a certain way, and match up with winter and summer solstice.
Around 80 stones were transported to the site from the Preselli Mountains, over 240 miles away. The heaviest stone weighs 45 tons! It's possible that they were dragged on log rollers to cross the distance, but no one knows how the stones were propped upright, nor how the lintels were raised! (...aliens?)

Honestly, the sight is a bit underwhelming. It really is - well - just a bunch of rocks. But, the photo opportunities were well worth the stop.

'I guess sometimes, there just aren't enough rocks...'

After Stonehenge, we made our way to Bath, Somerset in the south west of England. The city of Bath is absolutely beautiful, and the trip there was probably my favorite excursion thus far. We stopped and toured the ancient Roman Baths. The Temple there was built between 60-70 AD, and during the Roman occupation of Bath, Romans used to travel across the Empire to the site so that they could bathe in the city's healing waters and pay homage to the goddess Minerva.

The Ancient Roman Baths, where the natural spring still bubbles!

We stopped and saw the Bath Abbey...

Bath Abbey

And then stopped for a spot of ice cream, and listened to musicians in the piazza.

We walked around the city for a bit, and hiked up the Bath crescent, before heading home for the day.

An overall gorgeous day in Bath