From Druids to the Archbishop

'Aight, kids! So here's the epicness that was my weekend.



Fig. A. Stonehenge. Built by...aliens? Druids? Season-worshiping Anglo-olde farmers? The mystery remains.

We got up Saturday morning and were bused to Stonehenge, where we trundled out in Notre Dame fashion and gathered our "audio guides." You walk through the "experience" (large pile of rocks in the middle of a field) and as you pass numbers posted in the ground, you plug them in and the audio guide tells you about what you're looking at. Very clever. You can go at your own pace, and you don't have to strain to hear the heavily-accented tour guide.



Lovely, er, rocks. Very epic.



Stonehenge ROCKS!! (Cult movie references, anyone?)



Actually, it's very eerie, these stones. They're from far far away and somebody picked them up, moved them, shaped them, stood them up straight and stuck their bottoms in holes in the ground around when the pyramids were being built. By the time the Romans found them, they were ancient. WHO BUILT THEM? WHY ARE THEY HERE? WHAT DO THEY WANT FROM US? My Tour Guide Walkie Talkie was very squishy on the subject, so I don't really have any answers. That's pretty much the point of Stonehenge. We know the general point (summer solstice here, winter solstice here) but we don't know who or why. So everyone walks around in a big circle, taking tons of pictures, wondering, what humans made this? The mystery gets kind of creepy if you think too hard about it. I myself am going with aliens. As opposed to these guys, who apparently not only believe the Druids made Stonehenge, but the government has them hostage.





My favorite part is the Knights of the Roundtable garb:



Then we went to the city of Bath, thus named because of the Roman Baths which are there, which come from the natural hot springs. The town itself is very cool, kind of like a "London-lite." Lots of buildings with shops on the bottom, but not an endless flowing metropolis.



We had about an hour in town before our tour of the Roman Baths, so me and a few kids shuffled into a pub and ordered the uber-tradish fish & chips (so cheap - you don't realize how expensive London is till you get outside of it). It was FANTASTIC. I hate fish. But I loved this food.



There are a lot of pictures of food in this blog. My purpose is two-fold: a) it plays a remarkably large roll in my life (what with no dining hall, the acquisition of each meal is an adventure) and b) I must prove to Amanda that I am indeed eating, as she was certain I would spend all my money on West End shows and forgo foodage. So there. Yay food.

The Baths themselves were pretty darn cool. It's so wild to think the Romans were actually here, living and bathing. The baths have been preserved quite well, so we were walking on the stones that Romans walked on (!!!). I have a feeling this is Euro-Touring 101 ("The Romans were here!") but it's my first encounter and it was very cool.





After the initial view of the Baths one walks in and out of the temple area, looking at artifacts and following "a day in the life" of the Roman bather. Lots of the original plumbing is still intact, and much of the Roman architecture has been preserved or re-created. Basically it turns into an all-out "What the Romans were like" museum. Very cool.



Live-Action Romans! Yay!



Original head of Minerva, the temple goddess.



So after this adventure we trundled back into the bus and rushed home for the FIRST NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL GAME OF THE SEASON!! We went to SportsCafe, where all the ND fans ended up in squished in an "Executive Box" in the top because some soccer/futball game was going on. No worries, though. We enjoyed the game well enough. The NBC feed was coming in off the internet, but the game was going so well (you watch it?) that no one really cared when we had to stare at Jimmy Clausen's face for 15 minutes because the picture froze and, what, is that the Addidas logo on his cheeks? How much is he getting paid for that?

This morning we got up and went to Mass at Westminster Cathedral, the hub of Roman Catholicism in the U.K. Note: I forgot my camera (grr) so pics are taken from the internet. We happened to go to High Mass (yesss!) and had the pleasure of singing a Credo and Communion Rite (provided in the program) along with the top-class men's choir. Highlights of the choral pieces included Palestrina's "Agnus Dei" and and Offertory motet by Tallis. Balla.



The Mass just happened to be said by Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the head of Church in England and Wales. That would make him a PBD (Pretty Big Deal). It was a GREAT Mass said in a GREAT cathedral with a GREAT presider. We shook hands with him afterwards, introducing ourselves as students from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He asked how long we were around for, and told us to come back!



The cathedral itself is magnificent. It is interesting, though, that interior decor doesn't go all the way up the domes, but leaves the top of the insides showing dark, bare brick. I wonder if they don't have enough money to finish it, or if it was just designed that way. After Mass we wandered around the many chapels that adorn the edges, but only got through half of them. Must go back next week (the Archbishop requests it!).

Alright then, it's 12.25am, I'm beat, and I won't even go into this evening's fabulous meal (breakfast for dinner with the boys' flat next door!). Voice lesson tomorrow, along with a slew of new classes (did the scheduling dance last Friday).

Cheers!