Camden Market is one of my favorite stops in London and a place I take my friends to when they visit London. There is just something for everyone at the market area whether that is touristy souvenirs, great street food from all different cultures (yes, I did get mac & cheese, but you could honestly get a meal walking around sampling all the food), opportunities for Instagram photos, and boutique shops to pop into and have a peek at.
There also is the Horse Tunnel Market nearby which is a cool place to walk around. You can feel how horses’ hooves have worn down the floorboards in the old stables and check out the different booths that are now located in those old individual stables.
The next morning, we braved the rain and joined some friends to go check out Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge is beautiful. Even though you really can’t spend more than two hours checking out the museum and the stones, it absolutely was worth the bus drive out. The light rain made the stones look hauntingly beautiful and it was awesome walking through the museum and learning more about the history of the stones. Such things included the various ideas of their importance and who placed the stones the way they are today. So, whether you are interested in learning about indigenous people, the druids, or want to go to get the pictures for social media- all of us enjoyed ourselves and the museum helped those of us who have not studied the wonder thoroughly, understand its importance and history.
In Bath, we ate a quick pizza lunch then joined our tour guide for a short historic tour of Bath. I never heard of Bath before this trip or the significance of the Roman Baths, but I enjoyed learning about how the Roman elites used to come to this area to relax and how women would come in search of a rich husband. Today, upper-class citizens do still come to visit or live in Bath because of the beautiful village and the rich history. After the walking tour, we visited the famous Roman Baths. We were given audio equipment that reminded me of an old school ‘shoe-phone’ that we could use while walking though the complex. I liked how even though we were walking through hallways and passing over artifacts from the Roman period, the museum included holograms and videos of actors and actresses pretending to use the baths the way the Romans would have. This made it much easier to visualize the spa and how important it was to the Romans to bathe and drink the special Bath water.
We tried the Bath water too and I do not recommend it (tastes and smells like sulfur). However, if it makes me live longer, I would be open to taking another swig. That’s what is important though. That at least we were willing to take a sip and experience the location we were in the best we could. I’m sure if it was allowed we would have dipped our feet in too. We could not because of the lead content but it is the thought that counts I guess.