Bath and Stonehenge

This week has been quite nice and quite relaxed! After getting back from our snow trip on Sunday, we rested and had a sleep in Monday! We spent the afternoon doing a bit of sightseeing, heading to the Portrait Gallery and an underground crypt for coffee (converted to a cafe).
The next two days Christine worked a day and a half at the hostel where we are staying (currently school holidays). Its another one of these London jobs that only hires girls! I spent a bit of time starting to look for another job, but not looking promising, given I need 2 weeks off in April! I also did a 2 day Team Teach course through one of Christine’s agencies, and hope to get some school admin or teaching assistant work once the term gets started.

Happy Birthday Christine!
Thursday was Christine’s birthday. She had a nice relaxing day at home during the day and a bottle of wine in the afternoon. We then headed down the street for dinner to a Chinese restaurant for some Peking Duck. It was nice, but not quite the same as the duck in China, or even Melbourne! After a quick beer at the local pub, where one of the girls was working, we headed back home for dessert, Mel had made cup cakes and I bought a chocolate cake!



After another cruisy day on Friday, we jumped on a train Friday night headed for Bath. Mel from the hostel joined us and we met Julia at the train station. Two other girls came as well, Sarah from the hostel was on an earlier train and Amy came down the following day.
Saturday we spent most of the day wandering around the town, not doing a great deal. We were too late for the guided walking tour and the Stonehenge tour was booked out. Lunch in a pub, some more walking, a nap in the afternoon and then dinner at a Thai restaurant. After dinner we hit the town, heading to a local pub and then a bit more of a bar/nightclub.
Sunday was a bit more eventful. Sarah and I were up in time for the walking tour which took us all around town including the royal crescent and the circus. The tour was free and the guide was great, with many stories about the different buildings and parts of town.
After the tour we met up with the others in a café for a quick lunch and then it was time for our tour to Stonehenge. The drive was probably a bit under an hour, but was quite nice to get out and see the countryside and rolling hills. When you get there you can walk around the stones, but never get any closer than about 50m. It is your typical tourist trap, yes the stones are cool, but a bit overrated, and at the end there is a gift shop. Christine enjoyed it, and since this was her birthday present, that is a good thing!
After Stonehenge we stopped off in a small village, Lacock. It is a very old place and the whole village is National Heritage Listed, so it looks like all the buildings are about to fall down! The highlight was the pub, and seeing some of the local houses which have been used in the filming of many movies, including good ol’ Harry Potter.
After the tour we headed to another pub for drinks and dinner while waiting for our train back to London. We had a good weekend, although the town was so busy, even at this time of year. We didn’t make it to the roman baths or the thermal pools for a swim, mainly due to the massive line that wrapped around the building when we had hoped to go in.