Travel Notes | Reminiscing about the footsteps of England, Bath and Stonehenge

hampton palace

write in front

I read "Istanbul Holiday" two days ago, which brought back memories of being in London and Istanbul. Looking through the photos and travel notes taken during the trip, all kinds of feelings came to my mind. There are two countries, and I went to more than just these two cities. What I saw was not only the scenery, but also the people there. Recalling these, I can even remember the smell of the wind there. I want to sort out my travel notes from that time and leave a souvenir for myself.

I went to the UK during the National Day in 2012. I was single at the time and an ordinary office worker. I only had a Canon digital camera and my photography skills were not good enough. The photos I took were very average. At that time, there was no public account, and I didn’t know how to blog. The travel notes I wrote were only posted on QQ logs. The writing was very simple at the time, but it was filled with excitement and satisfaction. That feeling didn't seem to happen again after that, maybe because it was the first time I had traveled that far, and I was alone for most of the journey. The entire journey lasted 10 days, 2 days were on the plane, and only 8 days were left. Although the time is short, I am very satisfied. I went to all the places I planned to go, and also went to all the places that were not in the plan. Finally, I returned to my country with a feeling of reluctance.

A special thanks goes to my cousin Maggie for that trip. Although she is my aunt, she is only two years older than me. She took good care of me during my travels in England and provided me with accommodation and delicious Chinese meals. Lin Yutang once said : “The ideal life of world unity is to live in the British countryside, with American water, electricity and gas pipes in the house, hire a Chinese cook, marry a Japanese wife, and find a French lover. "This is obviously just a man's longing for an ideal life, and it also highlights how desirable the British countryside is, but there are many conditions attached. For me, as long as I have Chinese food, it is ideal enough, so my 8 day trip to England was really ideal.

There are 6 travel notes in total, this is the last one, please browse the following link for previous push:

The first article: "Travel Notes | Reminiscing about the Footprints of England, London I"

Part Two: "Travel Notes | Reminiscing about the Footsteps of England, London II"

Part Three: "Travel Notes | Reminiscing about the Footsteps of England, Windsor Castle"

Part 4: "Travel Notes | Reminiscing about the Footprints of England, Cambridge"

Part 5: "Travel Notes | Reminiscing about the Footsteps of England, Wales"

Chapter 6: "Travel Notes | Reminiscing about the footsteps of England, Bath and Stonehenge"

As I write this, my trip to the UK has come to an end. After returning from Wales, I went to Hampton Court Palace in South London because there is a cooperative school nearby and I need to visit and meet with the school’s administrators. Hampton Palace is very majestic and is known as the "British Palace of Versailles". The royal gardens inside are very beautiful. After I got back from there, I still had two days left and I didn't know how to organize it. Scotland is the only one we haven’t visited now. It’s a bit tiring to think of a one-day trip, so we decided to visit another attraction in England.

Finally Maggie suggested that I go to Bath to see Stonehenge and the Roman Baths. Everyone must know Stonehenge, it is also one of the famous attractions in the UK. Maggie went there once, by car. That place was in the wilderness and there were no buses or trains to reach it. Neither Maggie nor my uncle could accompany me, so I had to join a local tour group. I have been traveling independently for so many days in the UK, but on the last day I had to join a tour group. I have never traveled with a group in China, so I don’t know what it’s like to travel with a group. I chose a travel agency called Viator online, and the price for 65 pounds included tickets to Stonehenge, the Baths and round-trip bus fare. After making the reservation, I called to find out where to meet and went to bed early.

To my surprise, the tour guides in the UK are so different from those in China! There is no additional promotion or commercial move, the whole process is just to let us understand the cultural relics and culture of their country. I really enjoyed this day of group tour. To this day, I can still remember the tour guide’s special laughter, and I still feel bursts of happiness. Although we only got along for one day, I was deeply moved by their work enthusiasm and friendliness.

The meeting point was Victoria Coach Station. When we arrived, we saw many people waiting for the bus. They should all be starting in the same group. The staff was afraid that we would go to the wrong place, so they kept saying that this was a group going to somewhere, you are not wrong, please wait patiently, the bus will arrive at the station soon... we waited with peace of mind.

Once you get on the bus, all drinking and eating must be stopped, and drinks must be confiscated. Our bus was driven by a female driver, and her driving skills are first-rate! The tour guide introduced himself first. Even if he didn't tell a joke, we couldn't help but laugh when we heard his funny laugh. Along the way, he was afraid that we would be bored, so he kept introducing all the local British culture that he thought we should know. For example, which store was Princess Diana's favorite to visit when she was alive, and where the Queen liked to buy what. Haha, the British people seem to be very proud when talking about the royal family. What I admire most is that he can remember everything in the car in an instant. 30 What does the person look like and which country he is from? He said he works as a tour guide. 20 It's been years, and he didn't want to lose any of us today, so he wanted to remember us all. He also asked us where we were from one by one, and if he knew the place, he would talk more about the characteristics of the place. When I said I was from China, he said he only knew about the Beijing Olympics and nothing else. He should come to China for a trip.

Stonehenge is located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. It has a history of more than 4,000 years and is the most famous and mysterious prehistoric site in the British Isles. Its English: Stonehenge, composed of stone and henge, stone is stone, and henge is fence, which means a fence surrounded by stones, because the shape of Stonehenge is like a fence, but the way this fence is placed has principles and meanings. Its main axis, the ancient road leading to the stone pillars and the rising sun on the morning of the summer solstice are on the same line; in addition, there are two stones connecting the line pointing in the direction of the sunset on the winter solstice. Therefore, people speculate that this was probably built by ancient humans to observe astronomical phenomena, and it can be regarded as the earliest prototype of an observatory.

After three hours of driving, we finally arrived. This place is really desolate. There is no human habitation within ten miles. In the endless wilderness, there are some huge stones standing solemnly. It was extremely cold that day, and the place had a strange smell. Then I thought about it, it must be the smell of fertilizing the grass. Take the audio guide and listen as you walk. I really admire the British people's protection and respect for cultural heritage. The audio guides are available in various languages, so it doesn’t matter if you haven’t done any homework before coming. The tour guide will explain everything to you one by one. Looking at those big stones, each weighing about 50 tons, looking at this endless wilderness, it really makes people curious: there was no machinery at that time, how did people transport such heavy stones? here? There is no definite explanation for this yet.

That distant era has long gone. Time has given these cultural relics a mysterious veil, so we call them "material cultural heritage". They are evidence connecting ancient times.

After going to Stonehenge, we drove another 1 hour to Bath. English: Bath, Original meaning: bathing place, because the Romans were the first to do so. The hot springs here were discovered and a bathhouse was built here for the recuperation of officers and soldiers injured in the war. But more often than not, people give it a god-like color. At that time, people could not use scientific knowledge to explain the hot springs emerging from the ground, and connected this natural phenomenon with gods. Therefore, they felt that this place was blessed by the goddess. Therefore, the Roman Empire at that time traveled long distances here to build baths and temples at all costs. The buildings in the Bath Baths are all in Roman architectural style.

Bass is also famous for another household name writer - Jane . Austen, the famous story of "Pride and Prejudice" took place here. When you come to Bath, you will feel that it is really different from other places. It is a petty bourgeois city in the great capitalist country of the British Empire. Everything here is very exquisite, the houses have a unified color and structure, and the price of goods is more expensive than in the center of London.

There is a "King's Bath" in the bathhouse that is the most famous. It also has an ancient legend:

ancient roman baths

Legend has it that in the first century AD, when Britain was still within the territory of ancient Rome, a prince named Bladud contracted leprosy after studying in Athens. After returning home, he was exiled to the countryside to raise sheep. Unintentionally, he found that pigs and sheep often wallowed in a mud pond with a strange smell at the foot of the mountain. So, the little prince went down to the mud pond to drive away the pigs and sheep, and from time to time he bathed in a hot spring next to the mud pond. Every time he came back from bathing, he felt very comfortable. Over time, the minerals contained in the hot spring water cured his leprosy, and his skin became smooth and smooth. Later, he succeeded the throne and became king. He did not forget the hot spring in Bath with a strange smell, so he sent people to test the water quality of the hot spring. It was found that the hot spring water was rich in sulfur and other minerals, which was harmful to certain nervous systems and Skin diseases were cured, so they ordered deep wells to be dug to pump the hot spring water up from the ground, and stored it in a huge stone pool. They built a "King's Bath" and a temple in the ancient Roman style. Every year, they brought the princes with him. The nobles came to take several baths. In the 16th century, the "Queen's Bath" was built next to it. To this day, next to the steaming ancient bathhouse, there is still the "throne" where the king bathed and his statue. (This paragraph is quoted from Baidu Encyclopedia)

Yes, as soon as you enter the bathhouse, you will be surrounded by waves of heat and there is a large bathhouse in front of you. It was really a hot spring, unlike the Zhongshan hot spring near my home, which only uses steamers to steam hot water. The heat of the natural hot spring is not only powerful, but also filled with warm water vapor. Even if you don't take a bath, your skin will be moisturized when you stand in it. I have never seen such a steaming real hot spring emerging from the ground. When I reached out, the steam suddenly moistened my hands, as if there really was a mysterious force underground.

Everything here is well preserved. It can be said that the place we are visiting now is the same as it was in AD. 1 The appearance of the city is similar to that of the 18th century. The difference is that now people from all over the world come in, while at that time there were only Romans.

The managers also designed large-screen videos in each bath to play simulated scenes of Romans living and bathing here at that time. The volume is controlled just right, making every visitor's imagination wander. Through videos, we can more directly understand how people lived at that time, and also understand the different customs of different ethnic groups. Human development is very diverse. I looked at it very carefully and stayed on a stone wall for a long time. What does that stone carved human face mean?

In front of a complete skeleton, I can still see the tall body of the Romans at that time. Interestingly, the identity of the owner of this skeleton turned out to be a tooth cavity, because the tooth cavity was caused by long-term consumption of a kind of honey. At that time, only nobles could afford honey, so it was concluded that he was originally a noble... ...Hehe, interesting, archeology is really interesting.

At the edge of the central bath, we found another group of primary school students. They were asking questions to an old man in Roman costume. Each child had many questions to ask, but they did not rush to answer. If the old man was still answering other students' questions, they would keep their hands raised and not shout until the old man allowed them to ask questions. The old man's table was full of various glassware. Because Bath had more than just a bathing place, Jane . In addition to Austin, glass art is also famous. Glass manufacturing was also brought here by the Romans. The old man imitated the tone of the ancient Romans when speaking, and even I, a big friend, enjoyed it. In the UK, I am often moved by this academic atmosphere. Their disciplined, cautious, and well-educated public order is what we need to learn.

Bath built along the mountains

Our scheduled meeting time is in the afternoon 3 I was so hungry that I hadn't finished shopping yet. I bought a small bottle of small stones and bath soap in the gift shop, which are said to be local specialties. When I met up with the group, I found that they didn't go in, only I went in. It was so fun inside, but they didn't buy tickets to go in. What a waste. However, I didn't go to the simple . Austen's former residence. Almost every bookstore here sells her works, and there are different versions, including children's books, general reading books or collector's editions. I came across a book about the making process of Diana's wedding dress in a bookstore. A Dress for Diana , The price is 9.9 Pounds. I didn't buy it at the time because it was too heavy. After returning home, I couldn't stop thinking about it and finally bought it on Amazon.

When we were gathering to go back to London, an episode happened.

Bath

An elderly American couple got lost and did not come back to meet up within the agreed time, so our dear tour guide went to find them. Later, the couple came back on their own, but the tour guide disappeared. We were all worried about the tour guide at that time, because he was a really nice person and we didn’t want to leave him behind. It turned out that the driver and he were working together for the first time, and neither of them had a contact number. Later, I found the phone number through the company, and he happened to find our car. Dear Mr. Tour Guide, we haven’t lost anything, but we can’t lose you! On the way back, he knew that we were tired from shopping, so he kept telling us to go to bed, and said he would wake us up when we got to London. He also told us jokes, I still remember that joke. Every time I think about it, I can't help but laugh.

During his conversation with the driver, we also learned some common sense about life in the UK. For example, when driving on the highway, if your vehicle breaks down and you need help, you should find the nearest sign and inform the emergency center. AXXX mile, BXXX mile . As long as you know it is A still B , You will know whether you are leaving London or heading to London. A represent Away from London, B represent Being London . I heard it vaguely in my sleep, so I don’t know if I remember it correctly. Finally, when we arrived in London, we reluctantly said goodbye to the tour guide and driver. say goodbye Everyone said from the bottom of their heart Thank you . The tour guide also said jokingly, See you tomorrow, or see you next time . I wonder if I will meet him again next time if I join a tour group? Thank you for being such a dedicated tour guide! The following pictures are for commemoration.

Our tour guide Mr.

After returning from Bath, my trip to the UK was almost over. There’s only one day left to buy some gifts for family and friends because there’s really no time for shopping in the last few days with a tight schedule.

I discovered that I didn’t suffer from jet lag at all when I was in the UK. In the first few days after returning to China, every time I woke up I thought I was in the UK. It turns out that I only suffered from jet lag when I returned home. After that, every time I saw pictures about Britain, I felt particularly warm. From time to time, I think of Wales, the calm sea; I think of Rex, taking care of me; I think of London eye, the excitement at that time; I think of Windsor Castle... Until now, it has been so long since then It has been 8 years since I recorded these footprints in writing. Every detail of that time comes to my mind. What makes me feel warmest is the warm care given to me by everyone I met there. .

Why do people travel? The meaning of travel is to allow us to see the wonders of the world. During the journey, people's footsteps and hearts are together. That kind of feeling cannot be given in our own place. The roads we have traveled, the sights we have seen, and the friends we have made have enriched a person's life. And since I have been to most of Europe, I am no longer so keen on civilized, romantic, and pastoral scenery. I would rather go to some ancient, primitive, and even poor villages. After traveling many roads, I know which roads are the most purifying for the soul.

This is the end of the 6 travel notes. I will make further records if I travel again in the future. Thank you for reading this far.