YeinJee's Asian Journal

My sister and I departed from London around 7am to embark on a 19-days tour, together with 23 other travellers (19 from Australia, 4 from USA) and Craig Hill, our tour director.

We headed to Dover, boarded a ferry, waved goodbye to the lovely White Cliff, and crossed the Strait of Dover (Pas de Calais) to Calais.

Photo of White Cliffs of Dover

The ferry took around an hour from Dover to Calais; and I set my foot for the first time on the Continental of Europe. Bonjour! We were greeted by Marcel, our bus driver for the tour; and continued our journey to Paris, the capital city of France.

It was a long drive from Calais to Paris, but it was not dull at all. All the scenes outside of the window seemed so fresh and enchanting to me… huge corn fields, nuclear power plants and gigantic windmills; it was like wandering into a brand new world, like “Alice in Wonderland”.

Accompanied with the chats and laughter with other tour mates, time flew; soon we arrived in Paris, and checked in at our hotel at around 4pm.

Stonehenge is one of the most mysterious places in England, probably around the world as well. I always wanted to visit Stonehenge; the rock formation has been on my must-visit list ever since I first learned about it on TV when I was around 5. Seems like my childhood dream came true.

Photo of the Stonehenge

The Stonehenge was first erected more than 5000 years ago and being re-modified (categorized into 3 phases in general) until the most recent at around 1600BC.

There are a number of hypothesis for Stonehenge, but nobody really knows who and why they built the monument. The stones are said to be arranged astrologically and the general belief is that it was built for worship purpose.

My sister who visited the site earlier had warned me that the stones are much smaller than expected… it’s true. Stonehenge isn’t as gigantic as I anticipated, but it’s still pretty huge though. Set the size aside; I was really glad that I was able to see Stonehenge with my own eyes, it was a wonderful feeling.

What I didn’t expect was that the location of Stonehenge is actually pretty close to a highway (you can see the cars from the site). Modern development vs. prehistoric monument… such irony.

I had never heard of Pulteney Bridge prior to the visit to Bath. According to our tour guide, the 18th century bridge is one of only four bridges in the world that has shop lots on both sides on the bridge.

Pulteney Bridge across River Avon

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Photo of Bath Abbey

I grabbed a sandwich and found a bench just outside of the Bath Abbey’s West Front. They were some street performers playing musical instruments and doing some tricks at the small square; and a group of Japanese girls were there to show a short Japanese traditional dance too.

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We were dropped nearby Bath Abbey and allowed our own free time. My first destination in Bath… the Roman Baths.

The Great Bath of Roman Baths

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It took less than an hour for us to reach the City of Bath from Lacock. Bath looked splendid from distance with its unique yellowish architecture.

Our guide drove us around the city to see some places like the Royal Crescent and The Circus.

Most buildings in the city were built of limestone, which were originally yellowish (some said golden); but lots of the buildings looked dark and brownish because of the age and pollution.

The city was undergoing a massive restoration and cleaning during my visit in order to return the city to its yellowish appearance. Lots of roads were blocked because of this, and the traffic was pretty horrendous.

The Royal Crescent, a row of building that was built in an arch (crescent) shape. You can see from the pic that some parts of the building had been cleaned and looked more yellowish (the rest were darker)

Brief History of Bath

Bath is famous for its Roman baths which was built by the Romans during their occupation of Britain (43AD – 410AD).

Bath re-achieved its glory in the 17th century after Thomas Guidott published his work about the curative properties of the hot spring waters, which caught the attention of the country and the royals.

In the 18th and 19th century during the Georgian times, Bath was a resort city for the royals and the wealthy. Lots of the current Bath’s architecture was built during that period.

Lacock is a small place to navigate, and it’s impossible not to bump into the St Cyriac’s Church.

The wooden door of the entrance was pretty heavy; I got into the church and I was the only person around. The church was so quiet and peaceful, I felt like I could spend hours just sitting in the church even though I am not a Christian.
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Lacock is a village in Wiltshire; most of its building constructed in the 18th century or earlier.

Red Lion Pub (top left); street, buildings and houses in Lacock village

The driver first brought us to have a glance of Lacock Abbey, which was used for some filming of Harry Potter movies. I wonder why we were the only group of tourist there; the abbey should be flocked with Harry Potter’s fans if it was really used for the filming… perhaps it was still early. We then dropped by the village for an hour break…

The village itself is quite a beauty; with its old and nicely decorated buildings. The abbey and the village are mostly owned by the National Trust, which works to preserve and protect the coastline, countryside and buildings of UK.

In order to preserve the ‘originality’ of Lacock, TV aerials and overhead cables are not allowed in the village. Life should be ‘pretty interesting’ in Lacock, I guess.

Another attraction of Lacock is the Fox Talbot Museum that commemorates the life and work of William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), former resident of Lacock Abbey, and one of the pioneers of modern photography. The museum wasn’t opened when I visited there, too early.