Bath and Stonehenge

Yesterday was a pretty good day, as days here in London go. Okay, that's a lie, it was absolutely fantastic. Woke up, got the girls off to school as usual, went to Maggie's cute assembly on Roald Dahl, cleaned up the girls' rooms, and then what? Oh, well, then I left for the day to go explore Bath and Stonehenge. Oh my heavens. It was incredible! I got on a big coach with forty or so other people and we headed out of London with Chris and Tony, our driver and guide respectively. Tony was lots of fun and easy going. We drove past Windsor Castle, the Queen's country home, on our way out of the city. We drove through the countryside, which is so, so beautiful. It was a long drive into Bath, but well worth it since I got to see that beautiful landscape. Bath itself is a positively lovely city! It's also the home of Johnny Depp, but sadly, I didn't see him. I did, however, visit the Roman Baths and the ancient city of Aquae Sulis! It was so neat to be in a place that has so much history. I mean, people used those hot springs over two thousand years ago! It was fun to wander around and imagine what it must have been like to visit it when it was a Roman spa. While I was in Bath, I saw the house where Jane Austen grew up, the house of General Wolfe, and the home of General Nelson. Also, on our way out of the coach station in London, we drove past the house Alfred Hitchcock lived in. Anyway, Bath was a lot of fun to wander around in. It's so different from other English towns. After Bath, we headed towards Stonehenge. Tony was chatting away at the microphone for most of the drive, and suddenly said, "We'll be to our pub in about five minutes--there's Stonehenge to your right--and we'll have about an hour to eat supper." It was so strange to drive right past Stonehenge! Like it was off the side of the road on I-15, just sitting there. I mean, how would it be to drive past Stonehenge on your way to work every day? Anyway, we got to the pub in Durrington, just up the road a couple miles from Stonehenge, and ate dinner. It was absolutely delicious, and since I was on my own, I sat with people I didn't know and therefore made new friends! There were five people close-ish to my age, and four of them were a girl-boy pair, so I wasn't really overly friendly with them at first because I didn't want to be annoying. Come to find out, however, both of them were brother and sister, not boyfriend and girlfriend, so we ended up having loads of fun talking and exploring Stonehenge! Dianna and Eric (I think those were their names...) sat sort of close to me on the coach, so we had talked a little before. Brad and Elise were at the very back of the coach, so dinner was the first time I talked with them, since we were all pretty spread out in Bath. Dianna and Eric just graduated from university and are traveling for fun. Brad is studying in London and Elise, who will be a senior in high school next year, came out to visit him. There was an Australian whose name escapes me who I talked to a bit, also. When we got to Stonehenge, only half our group could go past the ropes at a time. Dianna and Eric were in the first group and the rest of us were in the second. When Brad, Elise, Aussie, and I got to go in, we had loads of fun taking pictures and such. Now, until recently, I haven't had much interaction with people who aren't ten years younger than me or more. Mr. Oram's art history group was here this past weekend, and I spent a lot of time with my friend Rachel Burnham helping her move into her flat for the fall before she went home for the summer. Up until this past weekend, though, all my adult conversations have been with parents about their kids. So, I'm afraid my social skills were a bit rusty and sometimes I found myself going on about something utterly and completely dull and useless, and therefore felt a bit ridiculous. It was fun to watch Elise and Brad have so much fun together, though. It made me wish my siblings were here to turn Stonehenge into a playground with me! It was so incredible to stand right next to those stones--to touch them! I can't describe just how stunning it was. I mean, I've seen pictures of those rocks all my life, and heard about the mystery and phenomenon that they are. And there I was, touching them, goofing off on them with my tour buddies like it was a jungle gym. It really was so fun. I wish I wasn't such a social gimp. I realized the other day that I haven't had much of a personality here. I mean, I'm either wandering around by myself or working. Working with these girls requires me to be a bit more grown up than I like to be. If I'm totally goofy, they walk all over me. So, I had some trouble being comfortable being social. I think it was okay, though, because Brad gave me his number and said to give him a call if I wanted to do something. Anyway, it was a really amazing day. I loved Stonehenge and Bath was beautiful. Tomorrow will be my last big day to explore. Next week I might be able to do some quick things, but the girls don't have club after school since its their last week in school, so they have to be picked up at three thirty every day. Wednesday is the twins' last day, and Thursday is little Farran's last day. Then, we have about five or six days til we leave for the States! Pretty wild.