Salisbury

After visiting Stonehenge we went on to Salisbury where we had lunch at the Coach and Horses pub and walked around the town. It was an interesting town with lots of nice shops. we walked around the Cathedral which was beautiful.

Stonehenge

18 March
Ian took out the rover again and we went to Amesbury to see stonehenge. Although it was quite cold the clouds gave the site a very atmospheric feel and it was nice to walk around such an interesting piece of history

Bath

17 March - Mom, Randy and I took the train to Bath and spent the day exploring the city. We first went to the Roman baths and learned all about the history of the bath and the town. After exploring the roman baths we went up to the pump room and had a sip of the famous Bath water (warm). Then we visited the Bath Abbey Church. We had lunch at the famous Sally Lunn's then walked to the circus and the royal crescent and walked through the park. We went shopping and stopped for a coffee before catching the train back to Bristol.

Stourhead mansion and gardens

Our final destination was Stourhead started out all right, the rain had slightly abated. We walked through the mansion first and saw some lovely period furniture and an amazing library. Then we moved onto the gardens which are around a small lake. Follies around the lake create romantic and charming scenes. Unfortunately it rained quite heavily while we were walking around the gardens but it was still nice to see the hundreds of daffodils and walk around the temples an grottos.

Wells

Next stop on our trip was Wells, home of the Famous Wells Cathedral. Once we entered wells we walked through the town market to the Bishop's palace which is adjacent to the cathedral. The Palace was not open but we walked around the walls and moat, looking at all the lovely spring flowers. The Cathedral was quite lovely, not to mention massive and we took our time walking around taking in the lovely architecture and stained glass.

Cheddar Gorge

15 March
While Mom and Randy were visiting Merry Old England we took a trip from Bristol to Cheddar, Wells and finally Stourhead Estate. The First stop was Cheddar Gorge where we drove through a quaint town along a small river and found our way in the middle of the scenic gorge. We came across a mountain goat on the side of the road and saw a number of other with kids, jumping along the top edges of the gorge. After driving through the gorge we wandered through the town and stopped for a cup of tea before heading to Wells.

Tintern Abbey

2 March 2008

Ian has decided to do his space film on monastic spaces so we went with his project partner, Danielle to Tintern Abbey. The site is only about a half an hour away from Bristol but Ian decided to take the "scenic" route and also avoid the tolls which meant a 3 1/2 hour trip. We did stop at a local farm market on the way a drive through the forrest of Dean. When we finally got to the site it was quite lovely. The abbey is basically a ruin with the large church being the largest remnants of structure. The Abbey was home to Cistercian monks and originally built in the early 1300s. The Abbey is surrounded by low hills and located right near a river. It was wonderful to walk around, there was a pleasant smell of cut grass and the the area was very peaceful.

The British Museum

On 26 February I went on a University trip to London to visit the British Library. After Exploring the library I took advantage of the beautiful weather and walked to the British Museum. It was very nice to wonder through the different galleries and just be overwhelmed by the amazing art and history contained there. My favorite gallery was the Enlightenment gallery which was like my dream library with floor to ceiling bookcases and display cases. I also saw the Rosetta Stone and the the parthenon sculptures, just to name a few of the treasures at the museum.