First of all, I'd like to start this post by sharing with you the fact that Starbucks is currently playing the "Shaft" theme song. I'm not sure if this makes this Starbucks the best Starbucks ever, or the worst.
Also, a quick disclaimer: this post may be rather boring. It's kind of hard to make a bunch of prehistoric rocks sound cool. The pictures on Facebook are much more interesting, I promise. I also promise that my next post will be much more interesting.
This past Friday and Saturday I went on an ICLC-sponsored trip to Wessex (aka the West Country). A word to the wise: if you ever go to Wessex, bring a coat. Not a sweatshirt, not a sweater, not a jacket, a coat. It is one windy, COLD place. Mia and I got so cold that we actually went and bought coats. Which we justified by the facts that we wanted to enjoy Wessex sans hypothermia and that the coats were really cute.
Our trip began with a visit to Avebury, which is a giant prehistoric henge that you can walk around and touch and all that cool stuff. And it has lots of sheep wandering around. Sadly, the sheep are not very friendly and ran away from me when I tried to play with them. Avebury also features burial mounds, which appear to be cute little hills but are actually mass graves.
After Avebury, we went to Glastonbury, which is a HUGE cathedral. Actually, it's the ruins of a HUGE cathedral. But even from the ruins you can tell that it was a truly amazing place before King Henry VIII got greedy and horny and had it destroyed so that he could a) get money and b) start the Church of England, divorce his old wife, and marry that hottie Anne Boleyn. We also got to enjoy the town of Glastonbury, which is like Ithaca in that it's hippie central, but not like Ithaca in that it appears that its inhabitants think they are all witches (we saw about four occult-related shops in about five minutes). Glastonbury seems to be so obsessed with the occult that I was compelled to see if it's the location of Boleskine House, the home of Aleister Crowley (recently of Ozzy Osbourne fame)/Jimmy Page (recently of Led Zeppelin fame). It's not. For future reference, Boleskine House is located on the shores of Loch Ness.
Our last stop of the day did not have a connection to ruins and/or the occult. We went to Wells Cathedral, which is just gorgeous. That's the only way to describe it. It also is home to the oldest mechanical clock in the world (which still works). We were there at the top of the hour, so we got to see it in action. Every hour, something really cool happens. I won't tell you what, because I'm hoping you will one day go to Wells Cathedral and see it for yourself, but I will let you know that *SPOILER ALERT* a Saracen dies. Repeatedly. Go Medieval haters.
We finally arrived in Bath around 6:00pm Friday, checked in to the Bath YMCA (I had no idea that a) YMCAs existed outside of America and b) you could still sleep at them), and promptly fell asleep. We're quite rowdy, us Ithaca College students.
Saturday we awoke bright and early and toured the Roman Baths. After quenching my thirst with some Bath water (haha- get it? No seriously, I drank the water from the Baths.), we walked along the Georgian part of town and saw the Circus and the Crescent (made famous by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in his play The Rivals). Then we went to the fashion museum and played dress-up. Then we had tea at the Jane Austen Center (much to my dismay- I detest Jane Austen and most other female Georgian/Victorian writers. The scones were good, though). Then my entire reason for coming on this trip arrived- STONEHENGE.
All I can say about Stonehenge is this: Stonehenge Rocks (you may laugh or roll your eyes as you wish)! Unfortunately, you cannot touch Stonehenge (and don't think I didn't try to cross the barrier and do it anyway), but I'm still okay with that. It's just an amazing sight. Avebury might be bigger and touchable, but Stonehenge just has some magical quality about it. You can't help but feel something. And you can take the coolest pictures in front of it.
So, that's Wessex. Some rocks, some cathedrals, and some water. I did a terrible job making it sound appealing, I know. But you should visit, because Wessex is just one of those places that is beyond words. It really is an awesome place. Really.
Peace out, cubscouts.
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