First, our tour guide drove us to Stonehenge. He said we would have 1 and a half hours of free time. He recommended that we take the free audio guide, so we did.
We had seen the site of Stonehenge as we drove to it, but when it was right there, 50 yards ahead of you, it was even better.
The audio guide was very detailed and gave you an excellent blend of history, architecture, and the special character of Stonehenge. It also explained the many different reasons that Stonehenge was built. According to the guide, Stonehenge could have been an early form of graveyard.
After our audio guide was done, we sat down and had some hot chocolate. Then, Dad and I explored the cow pasture near Stonehenge (his blog is at http://nmafpblog.blogspot.com ). When we got back to the bus, it was time to go to Bath.
We were about five minutes away from Bath when I caught a glimpse of a beautiful Georgian-style city on a lush hill overlooking a valley. It turns out that it was Bath. WE got about 1 hour of free time when we got there, which was mostly spent on lunch at a Parisian cafe and exploring the Roman Baths. Afterward, we thought we would not take a tour that our guide had offered us, and we admired the River Avon. But as we looked up at Pultney Bridge, we saw our guide's long curly hair and his face appear to be walking across the bridge. So we said, "What the hey, let's follow him." and so we did.
He led us to the north of the city to a place called the Royal Circle, which was a roundabout full of apartments that looked exactly the same (the whole city was made out of the same kind of stone). It looked like a palace, put it was really split up into different sections. We then walked on the the Royal Crescent, which was the same as the Royal Circle except bigger and semi-circle shaped. It overlooked a field covered with life-size painted pigs. ????? It turns out that they were being auctioned in that field to get rid of them. But why all the colors? Well, there was a story that goes:
Once there was a prince of a kingdom who was going to become king as soon as his father died. However, the poor boy had a mysterious skin disease that even the royal doctors could not cure. So, the prince was banished from the castle grounds, never to be king unless he was cured. So the prince wandered around some fields when he found a farmer. He asked the farmer, "May I take care of your pigs?" he was young and wanted to please, you see. So the farmer let him take care of his pigs, not knowing about the prince's skin disease. Soon later, the pigs had the strange disease too, and they started turning into strange colors, polka-dotted spirals, and every other pattern you could imagine. The prince was embarrassed at this, so he went to a nearby lake to wash his hands. When he took them out of the water, he was cured! He sprinted back to the castle and showed his father that he was cured. He became king and they all lived happily ever after.
The pigs in the field represent the pigs in the story. The town had made them, but they were getting in the way, so they were going to auction them off.
After that view of the weird pigs, the guide picked us up in the bus and we drove home.
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