This weekend I did the most sightseeing of the whole trip. We went to Bath, Salsbury Plains (Stonehenge), Avebury, Lacock, and Castle Combe. It was so nice to get away from the city and see what the English countryside is like. Everywhere is so green, I can't get over it! Plus there are sheep everywhere. It's so cute. 
Bath is a wonderful place. You really get the best of both worlds. They have a lot of shopping, but also a lot of great park areas. Joe and I broke off from the group to meed up with a friend of his, and we went to the Royal Crescent. Apparently Johnny Depp has a house there, but we didn't see him. We did see the great park though.
I was slightly disappointed by the Roman Baths. I think the museum feel ruined it for me. I would rather see it all in its natural atmosphere, but that's not really possible. It was still a really interesting sight. Although, the water tastes miserable. When they offer you some in the pump room, just say no.
Stonehenge is a really humbling place to be. It really is on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. We drove along and suddenly it was right in front of us. They've roped off the whole thing so you can't get very close to the stones anymore, but it's incredible to see them. Salsbury Plains is a very mystical kind of place.
Avebury is also very mystical and magical. There's a stone with a "seat" and supposedly if you sit on the seat and look to the left you'll have an encounter with the devil. I personally refrained from trying, but those who did didn't see the devil. But I did touch the stones, so maybe some of their magic rubbed off on me.
Lacock is a cute place. A few of the scenes from Harry Potter have been filmed there, but to be honest I didn't recognize the buildings. The whole town is made of four streets in a square. But of course there's a pub on every corner. This house is
apparently used in the second Harry Potter movie as the Potter residence:
Castle Combe was my favorite place. It felt very authentically like old England. The whole town is owned by the National Trust. They ensure that the town stays exactly how it is. The National Trust basically owns all the really historical buildings and sites, including the houses with thatched roofs, and makes sure they stay authentic. At the Royal Crescent a woman got sued for painting her door yellow. And you can't put up satellite dishes on the old trust houses either. They don't mess around in England. I think it's great to preserve the history though. Although I would not want to own a roof with a thatched roof though, because it costs a fortune to maintain;
you can't let it get green and rot to black, you have to replace it all the time, and it rains so much it rots easily. 
Around Bath there are seven white horses. They range from 300 years old to something like 1,000 years old. Basically people carved into the side of hills and created these white chalk horses. It was a kind of status symbol. Now they have to scrap away to a new layer of chalk every once in a while so they still look white.
It was a busy weekend, and these pictures are only a small fraction of what we saw. And it was worth braving the cold and the wind to see it all.
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