Lindsay's London Living: Adventures in the English Countryside: Glastonbury, Stourhead, and Bath

As much as I love writing, especially writing about London, I have been dreading updating my blog since it has now been nearly two weeks since my last post and in that time I've seen at least 5 major Cathedrals, wandered through at least that many museums, took a ferry ride, went to another country, climbed the Eiffel Tower, waved at the Mona Lisa, partied with the French on Bastille Day, walked through the Hall of Mirrors, drove by stonehenge, saw the crown jewels, climbed the Tor of Glastonbury found myself shoulder-deep in WWI trenches, ate 4 crepes, and clocked at least 20 hours on the coach with our trusty and ridiculously informed driver/tour guide Tony. And that is merely the condensed version of my excursions. This past week I spent in France, touring WWI sites and as well as passing a few short days in Paris. But I will start with the previous week which was spent in London. Tuesday July 6th was spent mostly in class and doing homework at the Centre. I can't seem to recall anything particularly exciting about that day, which doesn't mean that nothing exciting happened but it must have been overshadowed by the 20 or some odd epic things that have happened to me since then. But I think I went to the National Gallery which was great and the London Transport Museum which was not great and also cost me 5 pounds and turned out to be a giant waste of time. Wednesday was extremely epic and we took a day trip to Glastonbury, Stourhead, and BATH. It was fabulous. I don't know if I could possibly say that it was the most epic of our day trips because they are all super amazing, but it was definitely a lot of fun. We hit up Glastonbury first, which is home to a laundry list of intriguing legends. The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey are said to be from the oldest Christian Abbey in the world. It is also legend that Joseph of Arimathea brought Jesus there as a child, and that he also brought the Holy Grail there full of Jesus' blood about 65 years after the death of Jesus. Glastonbury is home to what is speculated to be the actual Holy Grail of Arthurian Legend and it is also the home of the tomb they believe to be of King Arthur and Guinevere. The ruins are so impressive with their rugged beauty. So we got some time to look around the ruins and take pictures. Glastonbury is also home to the famous Glastonbury Tor which is a giant hill that rises up our the middle of the city and boasts the ruin of St. Michael's Church and it is also rumored to be the Isle of Avalon from Arthurian legend. We climbed to the top of the Tor and the view from the top is so far the most beautiful thing I've seen on my trip so far. The British countryside is absolutely incredible and it is just so green and lush. There are green fields dotted with sheep and surrounded by rows of hedges and picturesque fences. It is so beautiful and peaceful, and was sure worth every step of the steep climb up the hill.

View from the top of the Glastonbury Tor. Beautiful England :)

Grave of King Arthur and Guinevere

Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey

View from the top of the Tor

Next we journeyed to Stourhead which are giant landscape gardens which were designed by Henry Hoare in the fashion of Gilpin's "picturesque." It was also the filming site for the proposal scene for the new version of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly. It really was so beautiful and I'm sad that we had less than an hour to spend there because I could have spent an eternity. England is so green and beautiful and I absolutely love it!

Stourhead

Bath was our final stop on Wednesday. It lived up to my expectations and it was so so beautiful. The 18th Century Georgian style architecture is absolutely stunning and the town is so uniform. We first visited the famous Roman Baths which date back to the 4th Century. The bubbling water that comes up in the hot springs is said to come from deep within the earth's core and it is believed to be rainwater that is some 10,000 years old! The bath water is this bright, iridescent green color and you are not allowed to touch it. I did, however, buy a bottle of Bath water to bring home with me, so I will always have some ancient water from the famous Roman Baths. After our audiotour of the Baths, we walked up to the Assembly Rooms which provide the setting for many scenes in Jane Austen's novels, as well as her own life and we passed the home she lived in for a period in Bath. On our way out of town, Tony drove us by the Royal Crescent which is an arch of some of the most beautiful Georgian architecture and it was absolutely stunning. I was so in love. If I don't end up raising sheep in the English countryside, which became my ambition after touring Glastonbury, I will sell flowers on the street in Bath. I want to live there.