'He is the very pineapple of politeness!'

I'm going to write this as though I posted it yesterday because I'm using my journal as reference and I wrote in it last night, just so y'all know.
Today was an eventful day. Once we started driving to Stonehenge, I think pretty much everyone passed out. I dozed in and out - I think I woke up with every song change on my iPod. I debated turning it off at one point, but I fell back asleep before I could do anything about it.
Before we got to the motorway, we went through Richmond and passed the Three Kings Pub. The sign had a picture of King Henry VIII, King Charles I or II and Elvis Presely :D We also passed the old deer park, where kings would go hunt when there was still a castle in Richmond, and Brian (our tour guide) commented 'And there's an old deer (dear).' There was an old woman sitting in a wheelchair on the field :D
As we got closer to Stonehenge, Brian started talking about it. Historians pretty much know how it was set up, but when and why are the source of many theories. The one he told us that I liked was that it was used as a place to celebrate life and death. Katie came up with her own - she said that it was a large musical instrument and was later turned into a jello mould. Brian said she might have to do a bit of research before that one becomes widely accepted...
The Stonehenge Cafe sold rock cakes that Brian said were really good. Ivy and I split one - it was really good. We were both glad Hagrid didn't make them ;D
Then we had another drive to Salisbury. Brian told us that Old Sarum is the original location of Salisbury. In Old Sarum, the castle and cathedral were right next to each other and soldiers and clergymen didn't mix well. They had an archer shoot an arrow and that's where the new cathedral would be. Well, the arrow hit a deer and the deer made it another three miles before dying near a river, so that's where they planned the new Salisbury.
There was an Ordination going on, so we couldn't go in the chapel until 1 pm. Nicole and I had lunch at a picnic table outside the cathedral after walking through the markets - you can buy anything there! We saw books, clothes, cleaning supplies, jewelry, board games and food.
When Salisbury Cathedral was first built, it didn't have a steeple. They added one later, but it leaned 29 1/4 inches off centre because it was so heavy. Luckily, that was the extent of it. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful - an English Gothic building that only took 38 years to build.
Inside the chapel, we saw the grave of William Longspree. William was the illegitimate half-brother of Kings John and Richard Lionheart. He met the Countess of Salisbury and fell in love, so they got married and he became the Earl of Salisbury. When King John sealed the twelve copies of the Magna Carta, Longspree brought one to Salisbury. We saw it - talk about small handwriting...
Then he went off on the crusades and disappeared. Hugh de Burgh, one of King John's henchmen, wanted his son to marry the widowed Countess. She didn't want to, but he went ahead and arranged everything anyway.
One day, they were having an engagement dinner and Longspree walked in the doors in the middle of it. They changed it into a welcome home party, but Longspree died less than 24 hours later. They later discovered that it was through arsenic poisoning. Brian's moral of the story was not to trust de Burghs :]
On the way to Bath, Brian talked about how underneath the top layer of ground is a layer of chalk. People have made designs in hills by exposing that layer. And I saw so many Texacos! I haven't seen one since California and I saw a bunch off the motorways. I took a lot of pictures of the countryside - like a lot a lot. Nicole laughed at me, but I really loved the views.
Brian also talked about Bath. About ten thousand years ago, rain water seeped through the ground and was heated by the core and still bubbles up now at a constant rate. The first King of England, King Edgar, was crowned at Bath Abbey in 973 AD. Jane Tusten also lived here, though she really didn't like it. There was a Jane Austen Centre and I got an I <3 Darcy sticker :D I wish they sold Region 1 DVDs - I can watch Region 2 thing on my computer, but I like watching Austen movies on the big tv with my mom :D
Nicole really likes this store called Apricot, so we searched for one once she saw people with the bags. When we found it, we both found things to get - on sale too! I got a shirt and scarf for £7 :]
When we got back to the hostel, we still had 2 hours till we went to eat. I read The Rivals - it's by the same author as School for Scandal. There's a character named Mrs Malaprop (like malapropism...) and she had some of the funniest lines. One of them made me crack up - she was talking about someone and said 'He is the very pineapple of politeness!' I realised that she meant pinnacle, but I was still laughing - I think that was my favourite line.
When we got to the restaurant, it took bloody forever to eat - sitting down till dessert took 2 hours. The tomato basil soup appetizer was delicious though, so that made up for it.
After dinner, a bunch of us went to a pub. It was fun - I tried cider because I'd heard that Bath had some really good ciders. I definitely wasn't prepared for the carbonation - I haven't had a soda in a while so it was weird to drink. So many people got drunk. Dylan, one of the guys in IES, started the day off drunk so he was gone. Nicole, if she wasn't drunk, was definitely pretty tipsy. It's fun to be the sober one in a crowd of drunks :D
Also at the pub were two stag teams (bachelor parties). One was themed - they were all dressed up as geeks except the groom who was in a costume dress and blonde wig. They were all really nice and fun to talk to. I didn't see the other group as much - but I did see them take salt tequila lime shots (snort the salt, take the tequila shot then squirt a lime in your eye - I don't know if they have an official name or not) and there were some IES people talking with them all. It was really cool how everyone merged.
We got in at 12.30 ish and breakfast was at 8, so wrote in my journal and just crashed.
Well, I did promise a longer post this weekend ;] I'll write up today's entry later on, it's only 8.00 pm right now.
Till then,
-Carly