Touring, traveling and more touring

We are in Swansea, Wales today, we arrived here last night around 9. Yesterday we took the Mad Max tour from Bath. It took us first to Castle Coombe, a Cotswold village built between the 13th and 17th centuries and, according to our guide Dave, virtually unchanged since the 17th century. It is just one street, with a stream and a lovely old church. It was the site of the movies Stardust and Dr. Doolittle (the original with Rex Harrison). After walking around there, we went on to Avebury, which is an ancient stone circle site. It is far larger than Stonehenge, and rather different in layout. There is an outer circle which is approximately 1 mile in circumference with inner designs as well. The stones are in more rough form than Stonehenge. It is a far less commercial site, in fact the stones lie in a sheep meadow, well populated by friendly fat sheep (and their residue which makes walking around somewhat interesting).

Then to Lacock Village, another Cotswold village which was the site of some scenes from several Harry Potter movies, including Harry's parents house (where they were killed by Voldemort) and Pride and Prejudice -- a number of others as well. We ate lunch in a pub there, then walked around the village. Along the way we saw a chalk horse, Sandy End which is a village of thatch roof cottages and a village called Tiddley Wink as well as Silbury Hill which is a large mound structure.

Our last stop of the day was Stonehenge, which far exceeded my expectations. Although I expected to be impressed, I found that it felt like a very holy site. I could easily envision priests from an ancient religion processing through the mist. We were told that it was built 4,500 years ago and faithfully maintained for 1,500 years then abandoned..... it is intriguing to think about what its purpose was, what caused all that care then why was it abandoned. Of course we will never know.

We took the train to Swansea last night, and spent today exploring. We spent the morning at the Waterfront Museum, which uses lots of technology to provide some really nice interactive exhibits and gave us a lot of information about Wales. I particularly enjoyed seeing the exhibits (bilingual by the way) and learning a lot more about Wales than I had known before. In addition, there was a lot of information on renewable energy sources, which was really interesting.

After that we went to the Dylan Thomas Center which had a good exhibit with many chances to learn about Dylan Thomas and to hear his work, much of it read by him. I found myself listening to 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' over and over, having it read by the author who wrote it as his father was dying really made it that much more meaningful, and it has been a favorite of mine. The exhibit gave a really balanced view of Thomas, who like so many artists was both hugely talented and flawed.

Then we walked around Swansea, passing the ruins of the Swansea Castle which just sit in the middle of the City Centre, we stopped at the Swansea Market which is the largest market in Wales. Lots of baked goods, meat, purses, furniture .. all the things you expect to see at a market. We had an outstanding Thai dinner just a few doors from our B&B, surprising for Wales.

Tomorrow we will catch a train to Edinburgh, spending most of the day traveling. We are prepared with books, iPods, puzzles and other entertainments.

Bath

We are in Bath. I saw the Zurich office in Swindon from the train, it was a nice little touch of 'home'. We got to tour the Roman Baths and the Bath Abbey, then went to the Jane Austen Center which was really interesting. We walked to the Bath Circus and took pictures in the dark. Bath is so much more interesting than I had expected, we could definitely have used more time here.

I am in complete awe to have stood at the Roman Baths, which were built in around 42AD. It is beyond my comprehension that people 2000 years ago built this and worshiped there. And the Bath Abbey was equally awe inspiring. We were fortunate to be there for a short prayer service, then got to look around at everything in this 500 year old abbey. Interesting, it was the site of the coronation of King Edgar, the first king of all England, I don't remember the exact year, but around 970AD.

The most interesting thing to me is that all of this history is just there, right in the middle of a lively town. Standing in one spot, I was facing the Roman Baths with the Bath Abbey on my left and a Ben and Jerry's behind me. Just a short distance to the right was the shopping area, a charming pedestrian mall lined with contemporary shops, some local and some names we all know, like The Gap. There are many carts selling interesting things, flowers, scarves, hats and who knows what. There were street performers of all types. One man was riding a unicycle and juggling large lit torches. This was as the afternoon turned somewhat dark, making it extra charming. There was a Celtic one man band with the most interesting instrument, clearly of his own design. There was a violinist on a tight rope, and on it went. I could have walked around much longer.

The Jane Austen Center was very interesting, it focussed especially on her time in Bath, and on the two books of hers that were set in Bath, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. We learned that she never got to see her name in print, the books published while she was alive just said 'by a lady' or something similar. Her brother arranged to have Northanger Abbey published after her death, and to publish it under her name. It was never published while she was alive. Given that , it is especially good to see her recognized and people coming to the museum

Time to end this post as the internet time is running short. We purchased an hour and shared it among the three of us.

Tomorrow we tour Stonehenge, Avebury and many other places, then leave for Wales in the evening. We will visit the Dylan Thomas center in Swansea, and the annual Dylan Thomas Festival will be under way. I look forward to going to Glamorgan, which is my great-grandmother's home. I only wish I knew exactly where she was from, but I will just have to appreciate all Glamorgan.