More UK Touring

Hoping to see sights outside of London, we booked seats on an all-day bus tour to visit Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. Our Golden Tours bus departed early from a location near the London Underground Victoria station. We arrived early enough to select seats in the front of the bus.

Off to Windsor: Adding upon older Saxon works, William the Conqueror, who reigned from 1066 until his death in 1087, built mostly a military outpost on what would become Windsor Castle. Successive monarchs continued adding. Henry II constructed the Round Tower, an imposing structure that greets visitors upon their arrival. If the Queen is in residence, her standard will fly high above this structure.

We visited Queen Mary's Dolls' House that was designed by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1921. He also designed the city layout of Delhi, the capitol of India. The doll house, built to a 1:12 ratio, has running water, working lifts (elevators) and real electric lights. It took three years to build. Delhi is still a work in progress.

Stonehenge was the next stop. There is no telling how long it took to construct this marvel. Some 5,000 years ago work started on earth works. About 2,000 years ago the 4-ton bluestones, now the inner circle, where quarried 240 miles away. The 50-ton sarsen stones that form the outer circle came later from a closer-by location. Scholars estimate that it would have taken 600 men to navigate the terrain from quarry to their final resting place.

We have seen Stonehenge many times on National Geographic TV and have heard stories of Druid ceremonies conducted at Stonehenge. Fact or fiction is not very important when you actually see the massive stones arranged in a circle that creates a space of beauty and awe. The power of visionary minds and the strong backs of many left us a wonderful gift. As for the Druids, they worshiped in woodland temples and had little need for stone temples.

Our final stop that day was the old Roman bath town of Bath. The Romans had established their bath works in Bath shortly after their occupation in 43 AD. The Romans, it turns out, were Johnny-come-latelies to Bath. The underground hot spring water that feeds the baths was a Celtic shrine dedicated to the goddess Sulis. The Romans, aware of the value of adopting local traditions when ruling in far away places, merged their Roman goddess Minerva with Sulis and dedicated the baths to Sulis Minerva.

Romans visiting the bath would change their clothing in the apodyterium, or locker room, and move on to the tepidarium, caldarium and finally the bath. The process was an all day event and theft of property left in the apodyterium was a common occurrence. Loss of one’s possessions sometimes resulted in a curse tablet being scribed by the victim. The curse tablet typically written on lead or pewter was then tossed in the bath. Many such tablets were on display at Bath.

“I curse him who has stolen, who has robbed Deomiorix from his house. Whoever stole his property, the god is to find him. Let him buy it back with his blood or his own life.”

Beware the curse of the apodyterium.