Late-y Lateness

Sorry guys.
It's been a little crazy up in here. And I've been feeling kind of sick. So that's why this blog post is so late, and it'll probably be short, too. I just wanted to do a quick update since we're going on a long trip this week and I don't know about the wifi situation.
Anyhow, on Wednesday, we went on a day trip to Bath. The first stop, though, was called Stourhead Gardens. This was the most idyllically, ridiculously gorgeous place I've ever been.
I mean

Look at it

We were only able to walk around for maybe a couple of hours, but I could have stayed all day. This is the England of my dreams. London is very cool, but this, man. This is what I'm talking about.
The highlight of the gardens for many people is this vaguely Greek-ish temple-y building where they apparently shot part of the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice. I've seen it before, but I have hardly any memory of that version. I did get a pic, though, just because. Apparently this is the very spot where she leaned. Cue dramatic romance face.

Anyway, we had to go to head to Bath. This is another place that I'd love to come back to. The only thing we did here was tour the Roman baths. Afterward, we had a couple of hours to wander around, but I didn't want to get lost, so I didn't ever stray too far.
The baths were pretty cool, though. I don't think they're something that would really be on the top of my list of things that I want to see. I don't know too much about Romans. The real draw of Bath, for me, is its connection to the stories of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. I really wanted to buy a copy of Northanger Abbey while I was there, but I couldn't find one. Oh well. I probably should cool it on the books, anyway, or I'll never get my suitcase home.
I just don't really have too much to say about the baths. It was interesting to kind of catch a glimpse into the past, though. It's quite incredible how long these structures have lasted.

I'm going to hazard a guess that that's not what the water looked like back then. Because I don't think anyone could look at that water and be like, "I'm going to get in there and it will probably cure me of all sorts of ailments and totally not give me diseases. Let's all do it together!"
Anyway, next we went to Stonehenge

Wow. Very majesty. Such magnificent. (Sorry, guys. It's really late right now.)
I really enjoyed Stonehenge. It was peaceful there. There were other people there, but it didn't seem nearly as crowded as most of the other places we'd been to. Maybe it was just because it's in a big open field rather than in the city. It was also nice to just have the one thing to look at. In so many places, you rush through room after room, trying to learn about everything, but here it's just a circle of rocks. There's something very calming in that. One of the young daughters of one of my professors was telling me how boring she found Stonehenge. Her complaint was that it didn't do anything. That's what I liked about it. It's just there. But, the fact that it's there is fascinating. Although, to be honest, I was expecting the stones to be a little bigger, they are still an extremely respectable size. How did people, ancient people for that matter, with no modern technology or equipment construct it? And why? It would have taken so much time and effort to complete. Why was it worth it? It's that mystery that makes it fascinating.
Plus, it's such an iconic place. Everyone knows about Stonehenge. It was very cool to actually be there.

I honestly can't remember what I did on Thursday. That might have been the day of the cemetery fiasco. Briefly, we had to go to a cemetery and take pictures of some graves. It was pretty far away, but we finally got there. We walked around for awhile and then it just poured rain. We all got drenched and decided to just go back to the center. I didn't get all the pictures I needed, so I'll have to go back.
On Friday, we toured Westminster Abbey. They didn't allow pictures inside and I don't like any of the ones I took of its exterior, so just use your imagination. It's a really interesting place to be in, mostly because the floor is just covered in grave markers. You literally can't walk anywhere without walking over someone's grave. I saw the tombs of Queen Elizabeth, Bloody Mary, and Edward the Confessor, among others. My favorite part was definitely the Poet's Corner, where many famous writers and poets are buried. Lord Byron, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, George Elliot, T. S. Elliot, and many others are buried there. In one section, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, and Handel are all grouped together. It was very neat to see Dickens's grave, since I'm such a fan, but it also made me sad. He never wanted to be buried there. In fact, he actively requested not to be buried in Westminster. He wanted a small, quiet funeral and an obscure burial. What he got was a week of people filing past to see him lying in state and a command by Queen Victoria that laid him in his final resting place. It just made me feel bad and kind of wonder about the whole celebrity culture that we have. It's just like people seeing a celebrity and feeling like that famous person should be obligated to stop for them and take a picture regardless of whether that person wants to be bothered. It seems like we feel like we have a sort of ownership over celebrities and that we should have a say in their decisions, such as where they're buried. I know that they were trying to bestow an honor on Dickens, but it still just feels sad and wrong to me.
Anyway, on Saturday we went on a tour of the Houses of Parliament. Once again, no photos were allowed, but I did get some pictures of Big Ben.

It was just so weird to be in this part of London. You have Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, plus the London Eye and Westminster Abbey all in one place. It's so iconic and surreal to be standing there.
We had a very informative tour guide for the Houses of Parliament. The thing that I learned is that British government is weird, man. It's very ritualistic. Apparently, every year on June 1st, the queen gives a speech and opens up the session of Parliament. The members of the House of Lords are all assembled in the right room, but the MPs of the House of Commons don't come yet. The queen sends a messenger down a hallway to the room where the Commons MPs are. They slam the door in his face. Then, he knocks on the door with a special stick in a special spot, and the members of the House of Commons follow him back to the first room and listen to the queen.
That was just one example, but there's all sorts of other weird stuff about the government. It's not required for MPs to show up. Most votes are decided by whichever group yells the loudest. When there's a tiebreaker, MPs who aren't attending have eight minutes to get there to have their vote counted.
It's just super different.
Anyway, that's how my week has been. Tomorrow morning (or this morning, actually. It's really late) we're leaving for our trip north. We're going to be passing through the Lakes District, lots of church history sites, and Edinburgh. I may or may not update while I'm there depending on the wi-fi situation and how tired I am. Until then,
Bye!