Stonehenge and Glastonbury

Today was our first adventure outside of Bath (pictures below, more on Facebook if you're on there). Our first stop was Stonehenge. I think that most noticeable thing is that Stonehenge is not exactly what you might expect. It's in the middle of the country, but in between two major highways. Secondly, it's smaller than you might imagine (not Spinal Tap small though). Either way, it's a pretty spectacular sight. The sheer idea that people about 18-20 years old dragged these rocks over is pretty amazing. I still think it was made by aliens.
Next we went to Glastonbury which is my new current favorite place in the world. Glastonbury is a small town that was once the site of the first Catholic church in England. The abbey, founded somewhere around 610, was once one of the largest churches outside of Rome, bigger than Canterbury. It is also a major site in the mythology of King Arthur, as he was said to have died near there. In the 1100's, the church even announced they had found the remains of Arthur and Genevieve on the site, but this is widely regarded to have been a publicity stunt to attract pilgrims and tourists after Thomas Becket was murdered there a few years earlier. The abbey was largely demolished by Henry VIII after he formed the Church of England in order to get rid of all Catholic sites, there are ruins remaining, including the intact kitchen. We walked around all of the sites, including a few ponds on the grounds. We had a short break and I went with two other guys to get fish and chips (my first of the trip) and had a pint of cider. We then found a little record store, where I naturally was in heaven (I picked up David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" and Lou Reed's "Transformer"). Our last big trek of the day was up a giant hill to St. Michael's Cathedral. The hike was rough, especially after that lunch, but payoff was incredible. There's not much left in the Cathedral, but the view was spectacular. We could see from up there the rain coming, so we took off, and headed back to Bath. Tonight there's a karaoke thing at a pub. We'll see about singing.
I want to thank all of you so much for reading and leaving your comments. It has been great to hear from home. To answer a question I got, there's a pub about 5 minutes away, and several that are more central for all the houses that are around 15 min. Tomorrow it's back to class, but Friday we're leaving for a residential weekend in Cornwall. I might try tomorrow to take a few pictures of my route to and from class each day. It's right through some of the more notable sights in Bath and will also help provide a nice insight into what the city is like. Enjoy the pictures below!

Stonehenge of Course

Glastonbury Abbey

The grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. The tower way up there on top of that hill is St. Michael's, where we climbed.

Me with the English countryside in the background

St. Michael's