Bath and Stonehenge

Yesterday I traveled 97 miles west of London to visit the city of Bath. The city is home to the only naturally occurring hot springs in the United Kingdom. Because of this resources the Romans built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills of Bath on the banks of the River Avon. In 1987, the city of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site and viewing its gorgeous Georgian Architecture in person, there is no wondering why.

It was a short visit, only lasting a few hours, but in that time I was able to tour the Roman Baths that are still intact in the city, also tour the Abbey, and peruse the city that author Jane Austen called home. In fact, much of the movie 'Pride and Prejudice' (staring Keira Knightly) was filmed here in Bath. It is an intoxicatingly beautiful city and one in which I hope to revisit someday.

On my way back to London, I made a visit to Stonehenge. I'm a lover of science and philosophy, which makes this site very thought-provoking for me. At first I was turned off by the massive crowd of tourists, but as I made my way around the site I found a spot to simply sit and gaze upon the stones. Its just remarkable to wonder how they came to be in this place and why they were built in the first place. The rumors explaining its creation range from Merlin the wizard to the Devil to Aliens from outer-space. Even as science rules out certain explanations, like a temple, or observatory, more questions arise. For instance, the fact that you can tells the time of the year by watching where the sun rises and sets, and that its geometrical arrangement is so technically advanced that the people of that time period should not have had the knowledge to make such calculations. Archaeologists believe that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500 BC and it was listed as a World Heritage site in 1986. The stones used to construct Stonehenge are thought to have been transported by humans from 160 miles away (in modern day Wales). The stones, weigh about four tons, and measure 6.6 ft in height and are 3-5 ft wide. Stonehenge was produced by a culture that left no written record and thus many aspects of the monument remain subject to debate. Coming from a world of fast-paced instant answering media outlets, viewing Stonehenge puts into perspective that fact that not every question can be answered. No matter how advanced our culture and technology becomes some mysteries will forever remain mysteries.