Ancestors, ancient stones and Daleks oh my!

So before I left for England I did some research on my family history and found out that one of my great grandmothers down the line was from Southampton so on one of my days in England I made a trip out there. I spent most of the day just walking around and enjoying the sights. Southampton is known for two things, the Titanic and having the longest perserved walls from the Medieval period. Traveling around Southampton I walked part of the wall that is still in place. There was much of the wall still up that surrounded the whole city. Although a lot of the cities Italy that I was in were walled, much of the houses inside the walled city had been replaced with more modern ones. Southampton had a good amount of the houses still intact so you got the feel of what it was like all those years ago. It was kind of cool to walk in the footprints that my great, great, grandmother walked.  

I also made the mistake of going into a bookstore in Southampton. Me and bookstores get along well, almost too well. But as I was walking through this particular bookstore, Waterstone it felt familiar. As I looked around, it dawned on me, it's almost like a Barnes and Noble! Oh I'm home! And I unfortunately looked around. I found my Harry Potter book, a special edition that was only released in the UK and the lady after listening to my story of collecting Harry Potter books from different countries gave it to me half off because it was there last one and had been there for years. Thank you random Waterstone lady. I also found books that I would never, EVER have found in the US. Like for example, Kiah are you ready? For example a "Where's Waldo" spoof of "Find the Meerkat". AWESOME! And so many other random Meerkat books. Who would have known!? Not me that is for sure. I could have stayed there all day. 

Another day I traveled to Stonehenge. Stonehenge is such a weird idea when I really stopped to think about it. Yes it is a mystery as to why the rocks were brought to that location and why and I'm sure that is what attracts millions. But really they are just giant stones. I mean in the grand scheme of things, they weren't really carved, cut or rounded to build mosques, pyramids, or bascillica's; they are just stones. And they are just out in the open so if you just want to see them and not pay you can drive up and stand outside the fence. But if you want to be next to them, you have to pay. Since I don't have a car, I paid and took a tour out there. It also provided me with a tour of Salisbury, one of the cities next to Stonehenge. I went to the Cathedral of Salisbury which I really liked. I liked looking at the old sarcophogi and who got chosen to be buried there and with such elaborate detail and the side plaques of the history of who those people are. My favorite inscription was "John Blyth Bishop 1494-1499. Sometime Chancellor of Cambridge University." You kow, he was the chancellor only sometimes. They also had choir practice for the service so it was nice to listen to that and relax before I had to catch my train. 

I also went to King's Cross. (I will explain the significance of this in a second if you don't already know.)  I only went to transfer to another train at first and then...you know what? I'm here I might as well go look at the tracks. I went looking for Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter where the students from Hogwarts catch the train. They lovingly have put a sign that says "Platform 9 3/4" and half of a trolley sticking out of the wall so you can take a picture with it. I of course did. But it is not near that actual platform, it is off to the side for tourists such as myself to take a photo. Smart. I didn't even bother looking for the real platforms, no point after I got my photo right? 

After London, I made a special trek to Cardiff. I met up with a girl I had met in Florence at the bus station in London and then we were off. Cardiff for you none nerds is the home of Dr. Who. It is where Dr. Who is based and filmed. So being so close I had to go since they just recently opened up the "Dr. Who Experience." It totally made you feel like you were in an episode with the animatronics and timing and the sets. I really liked it. I don't think it should have been 15 euros though but I had a lot of fun. What was also cool was that walking to the building, as you were following the signs, they had signs of Daleks, the mortal enemy of Dr. Who, pointing you in the right direction. Don't worry, I have a picture. 

The next day we went to Bath. Bath is beautiful. It truly is. It is also the basis of a lot of Jane Austen books which I have never read. I can't get into her books, I get lost in the language and the drawn out points she takes forever to make. The architecture of Bath is beautiful. And it is so unique. Bath is where the expression a man's home is his castle. So the exterior of the buildings in Bath have a castle like feel and each apartment within the larger building is completely different. The architects at the time just had to have the facade one way but had full range to do anything else they wanted so when you look at the back of the building, it is just a hot mess. Another area has a round park in the middle. Around the park are three large curved buildings that create this cool look and gives you this feel of like being in an intimate surrounding that you shouldn't be. I can't really describe it but it's totally the trip out there.  Bath also has Roman baths. So it's these baths that  Rome put around the natural hot springs and it's totally intricate and detailed. The problem was that whoever invaded after (I forget who) covered them up and they were rediscovered in the 1700s and now is a tourist attraction. I didn't love the Roman Baths. I appreciated the walking tour put on by the city much much more. On the walking tour I found out that much of Bath was bombed in the Second World War because Britain had bombed Berlin. As revenge, Hitler researched all the historical cities of England and bombed them making Bath a prime target. Isn't that just messed up? I really liked Bath much to my surprise. Thanks to my sister for making me go!