London 2010 – Day Five

April 18, 2010

Hitting the Road

Not so easy to get out of bed this morning, but we needed to get an early start. Today we rented a car and set out to Bath and Stonehenge. The round trip was about 240 miles. Just like last year, everyone we talked to was shocked that we planned to make it there and back in one day. I guess it is a long way, and kind of sad to spend such a short time in such neat places. But, I think it’s a beautiful drive and a fun adventure.

We had a bit of an unfortunate start. We arrived at the car rental place just in time for our 9AM reservation. We rang the bell. No answer. We rang repeatedly to no avail. Finally, someone coming out of the building let us into the building and we discovered the suite completely gutted and strewn with litter. Oh no! I had just gotten a confirmation the day before.

Turns out, this was the corporate office address and not the rental location. Not sure how I messed that up. Since time was a-wasting, we decided to grab a cab to the right place. Even the cab driver was shocked by our itinerary. I told him we were road warriors and he said we must be. He was a friendly guy and had some good advice on the best route to take out of town.

Peugeot Rental Car

Of course, we also rented a GPS. Last year, the route got a bit tricky… and using the iPhone for navigation is a poor use of limited, expensive data roaming. We also got full insurance with zero deductible. Expensive, but well worth it last year when Bobby shredded a tire hitting a curb.

Getting into the “wrong” side of the car, shifting (yes, we rented a manual transmission) with the “wrong” hand, and driving on the “wrong” side of the road – all challenging – and made more so by the complications of navigating London streets to the motorway. It was a tense, white-knuckled start.

Ultimately, I only had a few minor driving mishaps. I did graze a curb on a undivided highway going about 50 miles an hour. It was a constant battle to force myself to ride closer to the center divider. And, I think I got honked at and yelled at for driving too fast on a two-way, one lane road. The honking yeller was driving an antique motorcar ala Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and he ran his car up on a muddy embankment as we passed. I also drove on the wrong side of the road while making a right turn. I headed right for a honking double-decker bus for a few scary moments.

Besides the side of the road issue, driving in the UK was pretty painless, in spite of my initial nervousness. I even managed a smooth parallel parking job, something I can never do in San Francisco! Even so, the roundabouts are nerve-wracking and I had to let out a mini-scream and grit my teeth to get through them. Next time, I’ll definitely have a look at some basic U.K. driver information before I hit the road.

Mini Pancakes at Burger King. Delicious!

We hit a Moto (Motorway Service Area) at Reading. After last year, when Bobby, Shelley and I sampled the legendarily disgusting (and expensive!) English Breakfast at Eat Drink & Co. – Jose and I opted for the safer Burger King option. At home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I never go to Burger King even though there is one just down the street from my apartment. Sadly, it seemed to be the best choice here. We had a couple of value meals and an order of mini pancakes which set us back an insane £17. That is some darned extravagant fast food dining. Although, I must confess, those mini pancakes were something else. And unfortunatley, a limited time promotional item.

Onward to Bath!

When we set the GPS (aka Sat Nav in UK) for Bath Abbey, we had no idea it would literally direct us to the front door of the Bath Abbey. And, bonus, there was actually an empty parking space there! Can’t wait for the future when GPS will always point you to the closest empty parking spot. Yeah, right. I’m still waiting to quit my job and relax while the robots do all the work. Lies, all lies.

The Bath Abbey is so delightful. It may not as spectacular as Westminster Abbey or Notre Dame or St. Peter’s – but it has a really pretty fan vaulted ceiling and there are lots of interesting memorials throughout the place. You can see some of our favorites in these pics, like this urn of amazingly delicate flowers. On this visit, I was especially digging the different fonts used in the inscriptions and the skull-filled iconography.

If you are a Jane Austen fan, you’ll definitely get a nerdy thrill out of just being in Bath. She lived here for about five years (1801 – 1806) and Bath was the backdrop for two of her novels, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. The area around the abbey is closed to cars and that definitely helps if you want to pretend that Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth are just around the corner. There is a Jane Austen Centre, but we haven’t gotten around to visiting it yet.

Roxanne & Jose at Roman Baths

This time around, Jose and I checked out The Roman Baths. I’ll confess near total ignorance of European history now and admit that it never occurred to me that Romans were ever anywhere near England. On our trip to London last year, my friend Lindsay pointed out a statue of Boudica to me, explaining that she drove the Romans out of London and I was like, huh, wha?! In fact, London was founded by the Romans and originally called Londinium. Gazoinks! That’s one of the greatest beauties of travel adventure – learning about all of the stuff you don’t even know you are missing.

What remains in Bath today are the ruins of the Roman’s baths / temple to Minerva and the 19th Century English buildings built on top of the ruins. The museum was a tad expensive, or so we thought until we got inside. They’ve done an amazing amount of restoration and created lots of nice educational exhibits which totally justified the £11.50 admission price. Sadly, the baths are closed since someone in 1979 died from meningitis.

But in the super swanky Pump Room restaurant on the premises, you can drink a cup of water from a newly-bored / disease free tap into the spring. It comes pouring out of the prettiest little fountain. I had to try it because you always read about “taking the waters” in Bath in Victorian novels. It’s really intensely minerally water, served up at around 90 degrees or so. Kind of icky. But I’d do it again if I were in town. Because drinking from springs is romantic and especially so with this particular one.

Victorian Mineral Spring Drinking Fountain

Both the Roman ruins and the later Engish neo-classical structures are gorgeous. Next time we come, I’m definitely going to hit the Thermae Bath Spa, a modern spa tapping into the same ancient spring as the Roman Baths. And, I know we’ll be back again because we still have so much to check out in Bath. After a little shopping and cookies, we had to hit the road again.

Stonehenge, Here We Come

So, after a moist and hasty dash from Bath, we came upon Stonehenge. It’s just the craziest thing to be speeding down the highway past green, rolling pastures and forests, and then to suddenly arrive at Stonehenge. And it is very improbably located right next to the road, actually nestled in between two different highways.

Roxanne & Jose at Stonehenge

Last year, the very cynical man at the car rental shop suggested we don’t waste any time stopping, and just look at it from the road as we drove past. We practically did that this time… arriving just 15 minutes before closing time. We hustled from our car to the monument and took a wind-whipped lap around the entire site with the security team behind us sweeping all of the visitors out. We managed to get some pictures and soak in a bit of the ambience – but I could spend hours here just staring at every possible angle in the ever-changing light.

Back in London

This is the part of the story where we get a bit lost, circling around the general area of our car rental shop, until we finally find it – and nearly get clocked by a double-decker bus as I drive on the wrong side of the road turning into the parking lot. As I’m parking the car, Jose gets a front row seat to a drug deal: a man on the street and a man on the second floor conducting business via a rope-lowered basket.

We decided to give the Anglesea Arms a try for dinner. It’s this really old pub where Charles Dickens used to hang out and where D.H. Lawrence got married. And it’s supposedly haunted. The pub was very warm and snug – the food was pretty decent – and the dining room was quiet in spite of the hordes of young rascals in the bar enjoying a Friday night drink or ten. Sitting by the fire with a nice glass of warm beer for Jose and a glass of whiskey for me: a pretty good way to end a busy day!