Stonehenge and Bath

Stonehenge is a mysterious and very attractive place and I’ve wanted to visit there since I came to England. At last, I had a chance to participate in a bus tour which was organized by International Society in Manchester. It takes about five hours from Manchester by bus however there is nothing else but Stonehenge so the tour was planned for a Stonehenge and Bath trip. On the first day, I went to Bath and had free time there so we went to the Roman Bath Museum. It’s nice and well preserved since Roman era. Nowadays it has changed to the museum and I couldn’t take a bath, but natural hot water is still available and I could drink a small amount of natural hot water there.


I also found a spa and it said “natural hot spring”, but I didn’t know what it was like; I may need to wear swim suits there. And it costs 13 pounds (around 2,000yen) for an hour and a half so I didn’t try it. I miss Japanese onsens very much but it didn’t look like what I expected it to be.
After sightseeing, I stayed at a youth hostel. I’ve never stayed in a youth hostel before including in Japan so I was half excited and half nervous. It was a clean and nice room and far better than I imagined. The best part was breakfast; I could have ham, sausage, bacon, beans, eggs, toast, croissants, fruit-juice, and coffee as much as I wanted so I had a big breakfast there. It took an hour from Bath to Stonehenge by bus. Finally I saw Stonehenge! Some of my friends told me it’s disappointing however, I felt it was huge, mysterious and impressive.


After sightseeing at Stonehenge I came back to Bath and had time till departure to Manchester. I went to The Jane Austen Centre. Jane Austen is a British female writer and famous for “Pride and Prejudice”, “Sense and Sensibility” and “Emma”. I didn’t read any of these novels but I watched “Sense and Sensibility” on British TV so I was interested in the stories. Her novels were based on her life and I feel closer to her now and I’d love to read her works.
Before leaving Bath, I found a restaurant called “Jamie’s Italian”; Jamie Oliver is one of the most popular chefs in England and popular as イケメン(good looking) chef in Japan. In his cooking program, he uses lots of olive oil and in the food which is served at his restaurant he uses it as well and it was very tasty. After having nice food, I could sleep well on the bus and come back to Manchester.