Thursday, September 11, 2008

09/08/08 Stonehenge and Bath

No me gusta el autobus de touristicas. Me gusta la coche porque no necesito correr. Es possible yo visito Europa otra vez. Espero yo visito Europa otra vez. Me gusto mucho Europa y me no miro todo. Es imposible miro todo, pero quiero la mas.

We woke up early this day to head down to the Holiday Inn to catch our bus to go on a all-day tour to Stonehenge and Bath. This goes against my grain. I don't particularly like bus tours, other than the ones where you can hop on and hop off in the city. The bus tours just seem to rush too much. You don't get to spend enough time there, you don't get to see as much, only the touristy things that'll drain the pocketbook and leave you bereft of really experiencing a place.

Not that I didn't enjoy the tour mind you. The lady tour-guide was excellent. She talked to us about Harrods, about the many different museums in London, about tea, about Stonehenge, about Bath, about tea, about Salisbury Cathedral, about the Magna Carta, about the best beer, about tea, about different lovely trees (this country would be best for Emma-it seems people take a greater interest in trees here), about gorgeous views, about how Bath was situated in the middle of 7 hills-just like Rome, about the hot-springs in Bath, and about tea. Ahmee is a coffee-drinker, and she said that after listening to her she was this close *holds up fingers* to becoming a tea-drinker.

The first stop we stopped at was at the Salisbury Cathedral where I believe my favorite part was looking at the Magna Carta. This wasn't a copy per say. The Magna Carta was rewritten multiple times so that it could be distributed to the different counties. They only managed to make a certain number of teens though, and there are now only 4 left, they don't know where the others are. This one had Arabic symbols and Latin shorthand. The writing was incredible! The calf-skin it was written on was just smaller than a desk and it contained over 300 words on it-all beautifully written and perfectly spaced. Ahmee asked the lady who was guarding it why there were Arabic symbols on it-if the Arabic gave the text more meaning. Before I could say that I think it simply shortened the lettering, that it replaced the Latin to make more room for more writing, the lady gave this exact answer, and very forcefully I might add.

I didn't get enough time to read the English version of the Magna Carta unfortunately. This translation was on a board that was right outside the room where the Magna Carta was kept. The board was three-desks large and was full of writing. I probably would've needed an hour or two to read it properly. We had to leave to meet up with the rest of the group at a local cafe though to eat the lunch we paid for.

We sat with two quiet ladies from Utah. When I say quiet I don't mean that they didn't talk and were strictly boring, they simply had softer voices and soft mannerisms. Perhaps it was their quietness that caused me to be slightly outspoken, perhaps it was me getting close to where Elizabeth Bennett was "born", perhaps I simply wished to inform Ahmee of the simple fact, I don't know. What I'm going on about is that I responded pretty quickly (not loudly, quietly but with my own belief in my words etched in) to something Ahmee remarked about. As we sat there she heard the rock music in the background and said, "Isn't it strange to be in such old surroundings and be listening to rock music?" I told her that I liked it, to which she responded that I would, putting quite a lot of emphasis on the *you*, making me feel that she didn't like it. I perked up right there and said, "I like it because it mixes the old with the new. If you focus completely on the past then you're missing out on the present and the future. This place isn't all about the past. If it were we'd be missing out on tons." To this Ahmee said somewhat quietly, "I know."

Something I haven't written in here is how much Ahmee and Poppy are against piercings, tattoos, gothic-style clothing, and "slutty" clothing. I have no problem with them, they don't freak me out or gross me out, and I definitely wouldn't mind talking to people who've got piercings or tattoos or gothic-style clothing. I've been able to talk to all sorts of people in the past. I enjoyed talking to Greg, the guy who so many people call a freak in school. I don't think that that's very nice of those people at school who call him a freak, he's pretty nice, if different. People can talk to and enjoy other people if they don't believe that their way of life is the way to go for everyone, if they don't think that people who look different are somehow wrong in the head, someone to avoid. I have a nice little something to share with people: I adore Hot Topic. I've thought about getting a tattoo before and I have to say that I'm not against it. Piercing my lip, tongue, nose-meh not really wanting to do that-I'm lazy and it would probably get infected, plus I don't think it would look very cute on me. Now the upper ear piercing sounds like fun. As for dying the hair, Lol! I've messed with my hair sooo much already.


After the trip to the Cathedral we got on the road again to go to Stonehenge and then Bath. Two things I'd like to say about Stonehenge: it's so fascinating to ponder why people spend hundreds of years building it, and it's fascinating to ponder why. Two things about Bath: it's incredibly clean, and it's incredibly large and lots of famous people enjoy living there (no surprise, it's gorgeous).

The driving in between each place was nice. I got to see the English countryside, which reminded me distinctly of the plains back home. In Ireland there were more trees with rolling hills, in Scotland it was more rugged and lots of cascading mountains, here there were tons of fields with only hedges between them and lots of areas where you could see for miles (much flatter than Ireland and Scotland). When I got tired of looking at all the space, I daydreamed. I thought about how this was not enough, about how we needed more time in England in Scotland, about how I soooo needed to come back for another visit, about how I could easily live in Europe (already have had two people offer for me to live with them), and about how nice it would be to go on a trip after this one with two people who haven't been to Europe yet: Iain and Sara. Fun to think about going to school here as well. Op I'm doing what the tour-guide lady did! She liked saying "as well" too! Ahhhhh!

In short, I enjoyed the bus tour, even if it was only like watching the trailer for your favorite movie.

Once we got back to the apartments I jumped on the computer and started emailing again, Ahmee warned me that she did not want to have another fight over the computer. My thought was, "You thought that was a fight? There was tension, but I don't recall words flying between us." I did not say this though and I went ahead and wrote to Iain and Sara. I discovered an email from Sara that scared me. I can't write what it was here because I'm certain Sara wouldn't appreciate lots of people knowing this piece of information. I will write that the email really upset me and made me nervous for her and I wanted to ensure she was ok. Since Iain and Momma both talk to her I emailed them both (Iain first because I knew he was on) asking them to check on her for me.

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