Our first stop this morning was Stonehenge. When we drove up, we saw a wire fence around it and it turns you have to pay about 10 pounds to not have the fence in your field of vision. But even if you pay, you still can’t go up to the stones really close, you’re still about ¼ mile off. So, our tour guide told us that we’d get essentially the same view if we just walk up to it and just stand by the fence. So I did that. And found a hole in the fence and took pictures that way, as well as over the fence.
Then, across the street, I noticed a few mounds. They turned out to be burial mounds and people can walk right and I saw people walking their dogs there. Further to the right in that filed (not pictured) there were lots of sheep grazing right there too.
After Stonehenge we were on our merry way to Salisbury. We went through St. Anne’s gate into the grounds of the cathedral. The cathedral was gorgeous, but the odd part was that there were no permanent pews. You can see the lack of the pews and the stack-able chairs in the photo. The vaulted ribbed ceiling gently perched atop the elegant columns just has a lightness and beauty that I have not seen in cathedrals before or since. The large greenish thing in the middle of the photos is the font and it's a really deep green.
That day there was a wedding and we heard the organist and the choir practicing. Oh the sounds that organ makes and the voices of the choir. I think Cathedral acoustics are just perfect for that kind of music. Though, they spell choir as “quire”.
It also happened to be market day in Salisbury, and I got a chance to see it. Though it was getting late and the market was wrapping up, I still saw enough to wish we'd have gotten here sooner and had more time to explore.
Then, I thought it was time for lunch but I also realized that I had very little time and that I got turned around and didn’t know where the bus was. So, with my lunch in hand, I started walking all around trying to find the bus. If you’re using an old timber building with warped beams, like the one in the picture, as an orienting structure, don’t. There were at least three building that looked the same to me and I was using that as a guide. This is part of the reason I got lost. But not to worry, I found a local and he told me that I was almost there, just “walk to the corner and turn right”.I ate the lunch on the bus. [Unfortunately, all other lunches were eaten in such manner, that's if I had enough time to even run into a shop and purchase something I could eat.]
This was my introduction to Cornish Pasties. Basically, it’s a meat filling in puff pastry, with carrots and potatoes. YUMMY! But I plan on having a food-only posting and will feature it there.
Then, onto Bath! The city was actually considerably larger and more beautiful than I had expected. I didn't expect it to feel so big and have such beautiful surroundings. As you can see, the clouds looked rather pregnant and were about to birth a storm. But the overcast skies were like a natural filter and a good thing for photography.
The garden in the photo is actually a paid garden. I didn't realize they have those in city centers and that they only exist in movies like Notting Hill or on episodes of Law and Order. But this is a garden of amazing beauty. Just look at the cascading, overflowing flowerpots on the wall with the stairs, and the lion topiary, and the flower designs. Beautiful.
When I was looking at this scene, for some reason I also kept picturing "Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte". Maybe it was just the overall feeling of the place, that impressionist feeling where if you look too closly it doesn't make sense anymore and you don't see the actual picture, just some of its components. The band was playing in the gazebo and the locals were enjoying the music. I just love how the little boy in blue was just making circles around the gazebo.
Here too, Pam told us a free way to take a peak at the Roman Bath. If you go into the building and go like you're going to the restaurant or the bathrooms, you can see this view through a window. Please ignore all the reflections in the window. Yup, this is it. I think. I don't know if there is more to it than this, but had I paid to take the tour (yeah, it wasn't included!) I would have missed all I saw outside, all you can't see if you go inside, all you can't see if you pick just one thing to see. 
After the Roman Bath, I walked around to the Cathedral. I really liked the ribbed vaulted ceiling. It didn't look as oppressive and as scary as others I had seen. It looked elegant and delicate. Yes, stonework in a medieval-looking cathedral looked delicate, which I found to be unique. Here I mainly walked about and took pictures of the scenery. 
Part of that scenery were a gold John and Yoko mimes, street musicians, and the locals. It felt almost like a college town with all the street performers, people in costumes, people out for what looked like a bachelor/bachelorette parties, etc. The mimes in the picture might not look like John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but they looked more like them in person.
Our night was in Bristol and we didn’t really see a whole lot of it. What we did see was a lot of construction since the bus driver couldn’t find the hotel. Oh, I have to tell you about the hotel. It was very odd. The furniture was from Ikea (or something very much like that), the beds were very narrow, like cots, and the bathroom was a pod. No, really, it was. See how the wall is curved? That was the shower. It felt like a bathroom you’d find a cruise ship, or so I’ve been told. But the room was spacious and clean.
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