Bath and Stonehenge

Hello, and we're back!

No, not back BACK, but back here uploading pictures. Yes, we know that we've been slacking on updates, but believe or not, it took me one hour just to upload all the pictures in this post before I could start typing away. Ok, I shouldnt blame Blogger, if I've been updating regularly, there wouldnt have been so many to upload in the first place.

Anyway, last weekend we went to Stonehenge and Bath with two of our friends. Just a short day trip for about 45 pounds per person.

As there are too many pictures, I'll be telling our updates along with the pictures we took during the trip. Enjoy!

First Stop - Bath

The thing is the past two weeks we have been busy adjusting to each other's working schedule. Des has started working and he is back into jumping shifts. His typical week would be (for those of you who would have known), a compressed one month's Genting schedule. Meaning, he jumps from midnight to afternoon to morning and gets a day off all in a week. Yes, a very hectic jump and indeed, I feels that it is even more stressful than the monthly schedule.

A famous building in Bath *roll eyes*

Hence, our daily routine revolves around Des's schedule. Not that it was a suprise, as we were already quite used to it when we were up hill. When Des is on midnight, I'll get off work and rush back to join him for dinner, in which he'll get ready for work and will be out by 10pm. And then, next morning, we'll play our little game of spotting each other as we will both (usually) be in a bus (me to work, him from work) in the opposite direction. How pathetic eh?

Bath and Me

Oh, wait, a story about Bath and me. When we decided to join this trip, I have absolutely no idea what Bath is all about. We took this trip because it was recommended by one of Des's friend and it was very affordable. When we arrived, we were ushered into the entrance and were given one of those audio guide (refer picture above) and were told to wander at our own place.

Entrance of Abbey

The moment I took one of those audio thingy, I suddenly wandered out loud, "I think I've been here before". Two steps into the place, I had a de javu moment. I thought its just one of those moments and waited a while for it to dissappears. But three seconds later, I had flashbacks of the place and suddenly I remembered.

Yes, I remembered this!

I.HAVE.Been.Here.

I've been here during my UK trip twelve years ago when I was in Form 3! It really seems like those moments in TV where the person suffering from amnesia suddenly remembers. I remember the pool, I remember posing for pictures, I remember the dark room!

Mr and Mrs Lim

After realizing that I've been here before, I quickly lose interest and wanted to wander out to the town instead :P Anyway, Des enjoyed the place and was busy snapping pictures while I followed closely (I forgot my handphone that day and was being particularly paranoid of being separated from Des) thinking how stupid I could be for not remembering that I've been here before.

Matta: Dont worry, not all is lost. I remembered going to Oxford! :)

View from Roman Bath

The weather was cool, colder that last week as the sun was out and we were practically sweating last week. The weather suddenly drop as the weekend approaches and we were bracing ourselves for a wet holiday. It was very cloudy and very windy and the sky is threatening to drop any second, but luckily, it stayed dry for the day.

Display of one of those entrance

The trip to Bath took about2 hours, so we managed to catch a few winks in between the highway. Oh, and we got caught on the way back in a traffic jam, because there was an accident between two cars and people were driving S-L-O-W-L-Y to watch hence the delay in traffic! And guess what, even the OPPOSITE direction was slowed down too! Hence, the normal perception that only Malaysian are generally "caring" Is.Not.True! The people here does the same too!

See, we're not that weird afterall...

Steps leading to a temple

They excavated the steps to the temple but not the temple? Hmm...

Bath Abbey

After the Roman Bath, we were left on our own to explore the town for a couple of hours. We hopped over to Bath Abbey, a beautiful church full of interesting things to see.

Glass Panels

Isnt the glass paintings(?) absolutely beautiful?

Pipe Organ

There is also a HUGE pipe organ on display. I've never seen such a big one (although, come to think of it, I've probably HAVE seen this from my last trip, only I cannot recall due to my short term memory).

The walls in the church was covered in lovely memorials, thought it was slightly errie.

Outside of the Abbey

After the Abbey, we continue to explore the town a bit. It was lunchtime and we went looking for food when I stumbled upon this!

Rows of apples coated in caramel!

Hungry and craving for sugar, I pestered Des to buy one and it was just absolutely FABULOUS!

It took us a while before we could bite into the apple and we soon found out that it was indeed a green apple. Just look at the caramel and chocolate chips and marshmallows!

Yup, it was that big and we both shared it.

Though Des ended up finishing it as it was seriously too much. Not wanting to waste any food, Des took his time to finished up the apple and responded to the sugary dessert...

Hahah, things we do when we are high on sugar!

Street name?

We still havent figured this out. Seriously, is the street name Menwear or is the street full of men's wear???

An iconic building, we think :/

A couple more pictures of the town and River Avon.

The bridge is called Putleney Bridge.

The other side of the bridge. It is full of shops along the bridge.

There is a river cruise that you can take for about 7 pounds or so. But since we were short of time, we didnt join in.

Apparently, one of the beauty of Bath is that its buildings is mostly made of limestone, hence the chalky yellow boxy appearance in all its building walls. And since it was a National Heritage, no modern building is allowed and the town has to be preserved in its most original form.

Another picture of Pulteney Bridge

There is a university in Bath, so it is mostly populated by tourist and students. And the shopping is not that great. If you ask me, Bath would be a good place to study but not for me :)

Another view of the river

Note the building in the picture?

If you look closely on the top of the picture above, you should see a castle, a manor and a cottage. Hence, (according to the gentleman who manages the cruise), this building used to be the office of some ministry of defence, but has since turned into an apartment. But the attraction was that on the highest floor, there were three different types people staying up there, hence the castle (the super rich and mightly), manor (middle class) and cottage (lower class).

Then we stumble on this shop selling miniatures. I've always been fascinated with miniatures, but not crazy enough to start collecting them. There is something very earie about them, dont you agree?

A close up picture of one of the plates. A spread of yummy cakes and desserts!

Ron, Des, Agnes, KC

After spending close to three hours in Bath, we were soon on our way to Stonehenge. It was another hour or so before we reached the place.

Audio Guide

And we were handed our audio guide again. To be honest, when we reached Stonehenge, I was half expecting another Bath-moment. So I took a deep breathe as I reach for the audio guide, and sigh in relief as no flashback or recollection of whatsoever of me having visited Stonehenge before. Phew!

Another group picture

Frankly speaking, I find the audio guides terribly annoying as it distracts you from properly enjoying the place. Bath was short and sweet, but Stonehenge has lengthy explaination of everything, and we soon got bored of it.

Stonehenge - Tah Dah!

Basically we are just allowed to walk one big circle around the stones as we are no longer allowed to walk near it anymore. Tourist were caught chipping away stones long time ago and since then, they block it from public.

We took a lot more pictures of the stones actually, but soon realized it look almost the same every single shot and begin to take pictures of ourselves instead. Then we got bored and things go hay wire from there...

If you can, click on the above picture and notice how precise Des's finger is just above the "nipple". Fuyoh, guess who take the picture? Hahaha

Then they guys decided to build piramids to mimic the Stonehenge and weirdly, it looked more like a cheerleding club than Stonehenge...

KC and Ron decided that Des should have his turn too. Des was skeptical, but the two guys insisted. I think KC (the guy on the first below) must have regretted it as he grimace his way to lift Des up! Hahaha!

I got my turn too! They insisted I climb on Des's shoulders and I yelled and screamed and laughed my way as they tried to lift me up. Yes there is a picture of me but no way am I posting it up! Hahaha!

Yea, so that is so much from Stonehenge and Bath. We got back London around 7pm and grabbed a quick dinner before heading home. It was a very good trip and we hope to make a few more of these short quick trips in the future!